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One of the most applauded and most often quoted statements of Pope Francis has been his, "Who am I to judge," response to a question posed to him aboard the plane as he was returning to the Vatican from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in July 2013.

A headline in the Huffington Post is fairly characteristic of those that many news outlets reported: "Breakthrough: Pope OK with Gays." The context was the fallout from the so-called "Vati-leaks" about a supposed "gay lobby" in the Vatican and some recent hirings.

To set the record straight, it would be surprising that the pope would suddenly become "OK with gays" on that trip, given that the demands of his faith and ours require us to be more than just "OK" with persons who experience same-sex attraction.

Just as parents love their children for themselves, regardless of where or with whom they are in their lives, Christian faith proclaims that every person is endowed by God with an inviolable dignity and, therefore, deserves our unconditional respect and love.

The implication of many reports is that just being a "gay" person is a sin. It is not. What the pope essentially did was not only affirm the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Nos. 2357-2359), but also point a way of holiness for all who experience same sex attraction: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge them."

Turning to our Lord, Jesus Christ, is always the way to salvation for everyone, regardless of how one experiences his or her sexual feelings or orientation.

Jesus always accepts us as we are -- but, like any true friend, He never just leaves us where we are. He also says, "Follow Me."

Our faith teaches us that Jesus is the primary relationship in our life. Even Christian married people are invited to make Jesus the center of their lives -- not each other. It is being rooted in Christ that gives their relationship with each other the lifelong stability that it needs.

In the wake of recent Supreme Court decision, which accords certain civil rights to all persons who enter a legal marriage -- newly defined to include people of the same sex -- it is important that those of the Christian faith remember that marriage itself is not defined by how, in a given age, individual couples happen to be living it, nor by how any government may appropriate the word. Furthermore, our understanding of marriage is grounded not only in revelation, but in nature and right reason, as well.

Unlike the trends in civil society -- which, over time, have excluded protection of certain elements from the married state which our teaching considers essential, such as permanence and orientation toward the procreation and education of children -- we uphold the teaching of Jesus Christ that marriage is between one man and one woman, in a lifelong union of mutual aid and affection that is fundamentally ordered toward the other person and their children that are the fruit of their love.

This is also upheld by many other faiths and centuries-old traditions, and is rooted in nature itself. Not everyone is called to this state or can live up to its very sacrificial demands, but that is what marriage is (cf. No. 48-52 of "Gaudium et Spes," the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, released in 1965).

Only time will tell what effect the decision of the Supreme Court, as a matter of social policy, will have on the stability of married life. I believe that the opinion of the five judges is misguided as a matter of law, since, like Roe v. Wade (the 1973 court decision legalizing abortion on demand in the U.S.), it attempts to resolve a debate in the legislatures of our states by shutting them down.

Despite the ruling, the debate cannot be censored and it will go on. In any case, no decree by a civil authority -- be it from a court, a legislature or a president -- can change what marriage fundamentally is.

Fortunately, the beauty and holiness of what marriage is will continue to shine in the intimate, lifelong partnership of love and sacrificial self-giving between one man and one woman, fundamentally open toward the procreation and education of human persons.

Most people, of whatever persuasion, would probably concur that there is much more to conjugal love than two people -- of whatever gender or sexual orientation -- focused on each other, however passionately. Of all human relationships, it is marriage out of which human persons -- God's greatest creation and God's greatest joy -- come into being naturally and most fittingly. Its full meaning lies outside itself. Our faith will always proclaim and bear witness to this great and unique partnership of love, inviting all to embrace its truth and full potential.

Those who believe that this vision is too idealistic or that it excludes those who cannot or will not concur that every marriage must include all of these elements will, no doubt, take some comfort in the view of marriage that now seems to be embraced by many in our current society and in a decision of the Supreme Court.

We do not judge them or the sincerity of their beliefs. Those who believe that the Christian vision represents the true meaning of what makes marriage different from any other relationships will continue to proclaim and live their sacrament.

Nor are Christians alone in this conviction. It is neither bigoted nor intolerant for Christians or others to uphold such a vision of marriage -- which still deserves the full protection of the law, if for no other reason than the traditional purpose of the law: protecting the relationship for the sake of the children.

No one should judge them, either.

Follow the Bishop at www.facebook.com/AlbanyBishopEd and on Twitter @AlbBishopEd.[[In-content Ad]]

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