Santorum: Pope’s ‘Who Am I To Judge?’ Means ‘Love The Sinner And Condemn The Sin’ (Video)

Rick Santorum has a special, unique understanding of Pope Francis’ famous remarks about gay people.

Rick Santorum got into a bit of a heated exchange this morning with CNN’s Chris Cuomo. The highly-religious Catholic and 2016 GOP presidential candidate said that gay people marrying is actually just “a continuation of the breakdown of marriage,” as, opposed, to say, more people entering the institution, committing to each other, modeling love, respect, and family to millions more children.

But Santorum also in that interview shared his unique understanding of the Pope’s historic remarks, made two years ago in reference to gay people.

“Your pope says tolerance is the message of Catholicism,” Cuomo charged. “When asked about gay marriage and LGBT existence within humanity, he says, ‘Who am I to judge?’ That doesn’t work for you. You say you want an amendment that keeps marriage between a man and a woman.”

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Santorum, indeed, just yesterday called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage – pushing him farther to ithe right of any 2016 presidential candidate.

“Why aren’t you more like your pope?” Cuomo demanded to know.

“The pope doesn’t support a change the definition of marriage,” Santorum, almost smirking, responded. “I mean, he’s been perfectly clear about that.”

“He said, ‘Who am I to judge?’” Cuomo insisted.

“That’s not what he said,” Santorum, frustrated, claimed, falsely. “He’s been very, very, very clear about standing for the definition of marriage. I don’t think there’s any question about that.”

Perhaps sensing he was fighting a losing battle, Santorum switched gears, offering  different interpretation of the Pope’s well-known remarks.

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“What he’s talking about — and he absolutely right — is we need to respect the dignity of all human life,” Santorum offered as an alternative translation. “We are all broken, we are all sinners, we all make mistakes. And we have to continue to love and support those who fall short of the mark, including me.”

And then, this.

“I think the Pope is simply stating something that is crystal clear in the Christian faith, which is to love the sinner and condemn the sin,” Santorum claimed the Pope’s words really meant, “and to stand for the truth of what the institution of marriage is.”

Watch:

 

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Image: Screenshot via CNN/Twitter
Hat tip and video: David Edwards at Raw Story