Turin City Hall - scene of the "marriage" of two former nuns

Speaking on behalf of Pope Francis, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the Vatican’s Undersecretary of State, said that the pope was visibly distressed when he learned about the “marriage” of two former nuns whose union was celebrated in Turin City Hall.

Breitbart.com is reporting on the pope’s reaction to the marriage of two former nuns, known only as Federica and Isabel, who were married on September 28 in a civil union celebrated in Turin City Hall by the mayor. After the ceremony, the union was “blessed” by an ex-priest named Franco Barbero who has made a name for himself in Italy for celebrating gay “marriages.”

Federica, who is a native of Southern Italy and Isabel, who is from South America, report that they met during a missionary trip to Guinea Bissau and claim the pope’s exclamation of “who am I to judge” opened their hearts to moving forward with their relationship.

The two, who insist that their love is a “gift of God,” decided to leave the religious life “and begin a path of freedom and faith lived with serenity, without scandal, beneath the merciful gaze of God.”

News of the union, and the role the women claimed he played in it, was very distressing to the Pope who has always been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage.

“What sadness on the face of the Pope when I read him the news of the two ‘nun’ brides,” he tweeted.

The widely publicized comment, “Who am I to judge”, was made during an in-flight press conference on the return from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in July of 2013. He was asked about how he would judge priests who had same-sex tendencies.

He said, “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 mainstream media largely interpreted this as a softening of the Church’s position on same-sex marriage, which was not at all true.

The Church does not condemn same-sex tendencies, only the acting upon those tendencies.

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