The politicians are lying about Pope Francis and same-sex marriage

According to the State Journal-Register, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has attempted to use words spoken by His Holiness Pope Francis to justify his support for the redefinition of marriage and the restricting of religious liberty:

“Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church was quoted as saying ‘If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge,’ ” Madigan said. “He has articulated the basics of my thinking on this issue. For those who happen to be gay and living in a very harmonious, productive relationship, but illegal, who am I to judge if it should be illegal?”

Speaker Madigan isn't the only one doing so. The Chicago Tribune reports a similar response from Representative Linda Chapa LaVia:

"As a Catholic follower of Jesus and the pope, Pope Francis, I am clear that our Catholic religious doctrine has at its core love, compassion and justice for all people," said Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, a Democrat from Aurora who voted for the bill after spending much of the summer undecided.

Not to be outdone by these politicians, the Chicago Tribune goes so far as to make the bold - and blatantly false claim - that "Advocates soon received additional help from Pope Francis, who warned that the Catholic Church could lose its way by focusing too much on social stances, including opposition to homosexuality."

The statement alludes to these words said by the Holy Father: "We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible."  He said these words on September 19, 2013 in the context of speaking about confession (which I explained here) and the very next day condemned abortion and euthanasia:

Every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world's rejection. And every elderly person – I spoke of children: let us move to the elderly, another point! And every elderly person, even if he is ill or at the end of his days, bears the face of Christ. They cannot be discarded, as the “culture of waste” suggests! They cannot be thrown away!

This glaring example demonstrates the media's irresponsible manner of reporting on the words of the Holy Father.

So what are we to make of his question, "Who am I to judge?"  Did Pope Francis, with those words, approve of same-sex "marriage"?  Here is the full quote:

A gay person who is seeking God, who is of good will — well, who am I to judge him? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says one must not marginalize these persons, they must be integrated into society. The problem isn’t this (homosexual) orientation — we must be like brothers and sisters. The problem is something else, the problem is lobbying either for this orientation or a political lobby or a Masonic lobby.

A responsible reporter - and a responsible politician (especially a Catholic one) would pick up the Catechism of the Catholic Church, where he would read:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

 Notice that the Catechism does not endorse same-sex "marriage". And neither did Pope Francis.

Indeed, when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, on July 8, 2010, he said of the efforts to redefine marriage there:

What is at stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother, and children. What is at stake are the lives of so many children who are discriminated against in advance, deprived of the human maturation that God wanted to give them with a father and a mother. What is at stake is a direct rejection of God’s law, which is also engraved in our hearts. Let’s not be naive: it is not just a political struggle; it is a destructive claim against God's plan. It is not merely a legislative bill (this is only the instrument) but a move by the Father of Lies who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.

Those don't sound like the words of a man who supports what these politicians and reporters do.