A Chilean homosexual man who was a victim of clerical sexual abuse several years ago told the Spanish newspaper El País on May 20 that Pope Francis told him during a private meeting at his residence in the Vatican: “You have to be happy with who you are. God made you this way and loves you this way, and the pope loves you this way.”
The Vatican declined to comment on the pope’s private remarks, but if Cruz’s statement was accurate the words he attributed to the pope were immediately problematic for the world’s billion Catholics. They contradict the church’s official teaching about homosexuality as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states, in part:
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.
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The Catechism, while affirming that homosexual acts are disordered, also teaches that homosexuals should be treated charitably and “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.” However, just as Jesus followed his forgiveness of sinners with the admonition “Go and sin no more,” the Catechism also gives this admonition to homosexuals:
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.
So while the pope’s words that both he and God love Cruz “this way,” may be partially correct, they failed to convey that this love is despite his homosexuality. The troubling part of the statement is, “God made you this way.” Since the church teaches that homosexual acts are disordered, it cannot be said that God deliberately made anyone to be disordered.
In 2016, Pope Francis recognized the intrinsic problem with homosexuality when he approved a guide for training Catholic clergy, stating that anyone “practicing homosexuality, showing deep-seated homosexual tendencies or supporting what is called gay culture” would not be eligible for Holy Orders — ordination to the priesthood.
Given this position, the pope’s latest statement, if quoted correctly, is both perplexing and irreconcilable with longstanding church teaching.
Photo of Pope Francis: Edgar Jiménez via Wikimedia
