On Wednesday, in a break with two millennia of Catholic tradition, Pope Francis came out in full support of same-sex civil unions. The pontiff stopped short of calling for gay marriage within the church, but his remarks conflict with Catholic doctrine regarding the LGBTQ community.
Pope Francis made the remarks in a new documentary entitled Francesco, which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. The film is scheduled to debut in the United States on October 25 at the Savannah Film Festival.
Currently, the Catholic catechism refers to “homosexual acts” as “intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law.” It also defines “homosexual tendencies” as “objectively disordered.”
Pope Francis seems to disagree with the catechism.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” Francis said. “I stood up for that.”
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The Pope stressed that such laws were necessary so that gay people could be “part of the family.”
“Homosexuals have a right to be part of the family,” Francis declared in the documentary. “They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it.”
The Pope had previously spoken out in favor of such civil unions while he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, so his views on the subject should not have been a huge surprise. Francis has often been referred to as the “social justice” Pope, taking stands against unbridled capitalism and consumerism and speaking out in support of the climate alarmist movement.
In the wake of the deadly mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida — a well known gay club — Pope Francis said that Christians owe gay people an apology for the way that the church has treated them throughout history.
“Not just an apology — forgiveness,” Pope Francis said at the time. “The question is: if a person has that condition, who has goodwill, and who looks for God, who are we to judge?”
Some are worried that the Pope’s liberal view of homosexuality and civil unions could lead to a schism within the church, as some conservative clergy disagree with the Pope’s stance.
“The church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships,” Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin stated bluntly.
“The Holy Father’s apparent support for the recognition of civil unions for same sex couples needs to be clarified,” Tobin said in a statement. “The Pope’s statement clearly contradicts what has been the long standing teaching of the church about same sex unions.”
“Individuals with same sex attraction are beloved children of God and must have their personal and human rights recognized and protected by law. However, the legalization of their civil unions, which seek to simulate holy matrimony, is not admissable.”
More liberal elements of the church lauded the Pope’s endorsement of civil unions. Jesuit priest James Martin tweeted: “Pope Francis’s support for same-sex civil unions is a major step forward in the church’s support of LGBTQ people. It is in keeping with his pastoral approach to LGBT people, including LGBT Catholics, and sends a strong signal to countries where the church has opposed such laws.”
“It’s going to be harder for bishops to say that same-sex civil unions are a threat against marriage,” Martin added. “This is unmistakable support.”
The pope’s seemingly off-the-cuff remarks do not have the power of an encyclical or a Papal Decree. On the Italian Bishop’s television channel on Wednesday evening, the Reverend Antonio Spadaro said that the pontiff’s remark about civil unions “in no way affects doctrine.”
But they do signal yet another way in which Pope Francis has flouted church tradition in favor of another sort of orthodoxy — that of social justice. While the term “social justice” sounds good and meaningful, it is generally used as a way deemphasize the rights of the individual for some greater societal “good.” And that “good” is always defined by the Left.
Pope Francis would do better to seek God’s truth — not the faux truth of left-wing orthodoxy.
