Pope Francis' document allowing priests to bless same-sex couples "has no meaning whatsoever" because at some point, "we're still going to have to stand before God," the Rev. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, said on Newsmax Saturday.
"He's a righteous judge, and he's going to judge all sin," Graham told Newsmax's "America Right Now." "You can stand before him and say that I got blessed by the Pope and he's not going to take that into account. You're going to have to stand before him and give an account for your life, and if we don't confess our sins and repent and turn from those sins and believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no hope."
The Pope's announcement, which has caused division in the Catholic Church, says that priests can bless same-sex couples, while not blessing same-sex marriages, which are still not accepted under church doctrine.
"The Pope is a sinner," said Graham. "We're all sinners. Jesus Christ came to die for our sins, and he shed his blood. And if we're willing to accept that by faith and turn from those sins then God will forgive us and he'll cleanse us and we can have that hope of eternal life."
But the Pope's rule was "very confusing," he added.
"I've looked at it several times ... I think he's trying to have his cake and eat it, too. It just doesn't work that way," Graham said.
God's word, he added, has and will always be the same.
"He's made it very clear that sex is to be used in a marriage relationship and not outside of a marriage relationship, and the marriage relationship is defined by God as a man and a woman," he said. "Any type of sexual relationship outside of that is sin ... there are millions of Catholics that believe what I believe and stand where I believe, and I think what the Pope has done is brought a lot of division into the Catholic Church. And, uh, I don't think the church wants that [or needs that]."
If the Pope wants to hold out an olive branch to the LGBTQ+ community, he added, he would tell them that he loves them enough to tell them the "truth," and that is that "God made you. He created you. He loves you. But what you're doing is sin and I love you enough to warn you that if you don't repent and turn from your sins, you're going to have to stand before God one day and he's going to judge you, so repent now, while you can turn from your sins while you can."
And, with Christmas in two days, Graham delivered his holiday message, that "'God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son, that who so ever believeth in him should not perish but should have everlasting life.'
"God so loved you and me that he sent his son for each of us and for the whole world," said Graham. "Christ died for the sins of all mankind and this is a wonderful message. It is a great promise knowing that if we repent from our sins and believe in his name we will be forgiven."
Samaritan's Purse, he added, works on Christmas and has teams around the world.
"We're handing out over 11,000 shoebox gifts to children in about 100 and 40 countries right now," said Graham. "Those shoe boxes, they go by boat. They go by plane. They go by camels ... we go to the children in some of the hardest areas of the world and we want them to know about God's love and the true meaning of Christmas."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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