Pope John Paul II's slam on the gay rights march in Rome earlier this week was full of contradictions and backward steps.

Barely four months ago from St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Pope surprised the world during a homily by offering an apology for many of the Catholic Church's ancient views and actions take during the second millennium.

Sunday, he undid what many Catholics and non-Catholics saw as a step in the right direction for the church by admonishing the Italian gay rights march with some forceful remarks.

Calling the march an "offense to Christian values," the Pope said it is the church's duty to "distinguish between good and evil."

He quoted the church's Catechism, which calls homosexuality "objectively disordered," yet also says gays should be treated with compassion and respect, not "unjust discrimination."

That message is unclear and confusing to followers of the church.

It is ambiguous for the Pope to admonish a gay rights march and then call for compassion for the same group of people.

In this ever-changing society, many Catholics are looking for a church that is in keeping with the attitude that the Pope seemed to be switching to just four months ago when he issued the papal apology.

Remarks such as the ones the Pope made on Sunday will only drive young people from the religion. This generation is receiving mixed signals, as gay rights are advancing in government and the workplace but not in the church.

Just as gays and lesbians are taking tremendous strides toward receiving more rights and understanding in society, Catholics are getting messages from their religious leader that this is the wrong thing to do.

Being Catholic in a world that is heading in a different direction about gay rights makes it hard for Catholics to explain their beliefs or even follow their own beliefs when they are laid out so ambiguously.

Interestingly, a Catholic priest headed Sunday's gay march through Rome and many other priests from all around Europe also participated.

That priest should be commended for trying to show the compassion that the Pope is supposedly calling for.

It is time for the church to pick one side of its ambiguous past statements, preferably the compassionate side.

It needs to take a stronger stance one way or the other to give its followers better guidelines and continue to move forward in the future.