Hajja Salesjana April-June 2020

29 H AJJA S ALESJANA “Today the whole world is at war trying to destroy marriage,” he said, noting that this war isn’t being fought with arms “but with ideas.” There are “certain ideologies that destroy marriage,” he said. “So we need to defend ourselves from ideological colonization.” In his answer to the question, which asked how he would accompany a person who genuinely struggled with their sexuality, Francis said people in this condition must never be sent away, but treated with mercy and love. He recounted the story of youth he met that had been born as a girl, but “suffered so much because he felt he felt like a boy, but was physically a girl.” After having a surgery to change their sex, the youth met with a bishop “accompanied (this person) a lot. Good bishop,” Francis said, explaining that he had also accompanied this person. Francis recalled how eventually the man changed his civil identity, got married and asked to meet with him, saying “it would be a consolation to come with his wife, he who was she, but him! I received them: they were happy.” “Life is life and things must be taken as they come. Sin is sin. And tendencies or hormonal imbalances have many problems and we must be careful not to say that everything is the same,” he said. The Pope clarified that he’s not saying to go out and "party" with someone struggling in that way, but rather to take each case and accept it, accompany it, study it, discern it and integrate it. “This is what Jesus would do today,” he said, and asked the journalists not to say that “'the Pope sanctifies transgenders.’ Please, eh! Because I see the covers of the papers.” The struggle with one’s sexuality is “a human problem and it must be resolved always with the mercy of God,” and with the truth, he said. Alan Holdren and Andrea Gagliarducci contributed to this report. Photo: Senjuti Kundu on www.unsplash.com Photo: Ben White on www.unsplash.com