Pope Francis is taking a big risk by airing progressive views on gay relationships.. In a documentary aired at the Rome film festival last week, he signalled his support for same-sex civil unions (if not marriage), declaring that gay people “have a right to a family [as] they are children of God”.
The Pope’s progressive thinking impresses liberals, but the pace of change has “overwhelmed” many more conservative Catholics. Rejection of homosexuality is “anchored in the Church’s DNA”, and a change of direction could be the last straw. How are cardinals, bishops and priests “supposed to suddenly approve of what they used to condemn”?
The impact of Francis’s words was felt immediately in his home continent of Latin America, the “last great bastion” of the Catholic Church: there they sparked an “ideological earthquake” among conservatives. In Brazil, a huge shift towards more conservative evangelical churches which portray homosexuality as “the work of the devil” is already under way. Francis’s latest remarks will give them another selling point. He may be compassionate, but his taste for liberal interventions could yet end up tearing the Church apart. (Tobias Kaiser, Die Welt. (Berlin) and The Week 31 October 2020)
My comment: As a non-Catholic it might be wise to keep quiet and let this play out. Nonetheless, I have to say that I am dismayed at the old- fashioned views of so many in the Catholic hierarchy, and the hypocrisy of it all when you see the activities of so many in the priesthood. No man or woman can help being how they are they. They are born that way. It is in the genes, if that is an accurate statement medically speaking. Well, done , Pope Francis. You are a true christian.
Meanwhile, this morning we received a charming and happy New Year message from a young male, married couple who live in London and who we know through the parents. They are both highly intelligent, fun to be with and successful in their jobs; in fact, model citizens. It is high time Catholics came to terms with all this and treated them as perfectly normal and valued. ( By the way, the couple concerned had one of the most touching and happy weddings my wife and I can remember, – including our own, of course!)