Sorry, lefties -- the pope didn't open the gates to gay marriage
Eric Hoffer used to marvel at how the Catholic Church was able to distinguish the essential from the cosmetic in its teachings, calling it its discovery of the secret to survival.
That brings us to Pope Francis's statement on whether the Catholic Church was all in for gay "marriage," as many on the left had eagerly anticipated might be declared at the current Church synod meeting. Synods are gatherings of the faithful that are periodically held, which a determined faction of the Church has been attempting to get the pope onboard for. The press was full of such high hopes, as were individual leftists. The synod will start on Oct. 4.
That hoopla triggered a response from five retired conservative cardinals, including Joseph Cardinal Zen of Hong Kong, persecuted for his faith by the atheistic Chicoms, who asked the pope in turn to reiterate the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.
5 conservative cardinals challenge pope to affirm church teaching on gays and women’s ordination ahead of #synod2023 https://t.co/5ZwECogpjP
— Nicole Winfield (@nwinfield) October 2, 2023
According to NPR:
In his new letter, Francis reiterated that matrimony is a union between a man and a woman. But responding to the cardinals' question about homosexual unions and blessings, he said "pastoral charity" requires patience and understanding and that regardless, priests cannot become judges "who only deny, reject and exclude."
"For this reason, pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of benediction, requested by one or more persons, that do not transmit a mistaken conception of marriage," he wrote. "Because when a benediction is requested, it is expressing a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a father who can help us to live better."
He noted that there are situations that are objectively "not morally acceptable." But he said the same "pastoral charity" requires that people be treated as sinners who might not be fully at fault for their situations.
Francis added that there is no need for dioceses or bishops conferences to turn such pastoral charity into fixed norms or protocols, saying the issue could be dealt with on a case-by-case basis "because the life of the church runs on channels beyond norms."
More detail can be read here.
What's he saying here? Is he saying that priests can bless gay "marriages" and with that open the gates to having the Church perform gay "marriage," as a headline of a Catholic News Service piece published in the Jesuit publication "America" implied?
Read the answer, and it does not sound like it.
He says that priests can bless individuals, so long as they are clear that it isn't gay "marriage" they are blessing. Presumably, if it were a same-sex couple, the priest could bless the individuals involved, but there isn't going to be a blessing or recognition or endorsement of gay "marriage" here. Presumably, a same-sex couple could be blessed for having a friendship that doesn't include sexual relations, let alone cruising for a third partner together, which is what a lot of gay "marriages" amount to.
Yes, he used nice language and appeared to be open to gay "marriage." He also growled and grumbled at the retired cardinals in his usual cantankerous manner aimed at conservatives.
But it's pretty obvious he wasn't giving his OK to gay "marriage," not by a long shot, even if it annoyed him not to, because he essentially can't.
Based on the looks of this, the pope finds the conservative critics useful as a foil, in order to convince the lefties that he's on their side, which he is based on his other statements and acts. But he can't change doctrine and, to his credit, didn't try to.
A harsher interpretation can be read here:
This is right, with the emphasis on 'appears to'. Francis revels in confusion. It's confusion that seems to benefit liberals, but he won't quite say what they're desperate to hear. It's a mixture of nudge-nudge, wink-wink and plausible deniability. This would make him a terrible… https://t.co/mwXCq1EqhI
— Damian Thompson (@holysmoke) October 2, 2023
And it was probably so from the beginning. Here's a photo of the pope standing for a picture with Fr. James Martin, S.J., whose ministry is focused on gay Catholic "inclusion" and who is widely believed to be in favor of the Church recognizing gay "marriage." Notice that one of these faces looks happier than the other:
I'm grateful for a visit with the Holy Father today, where we had a wonderful, in-depth conversation at the Casa Santa Marta. I'm so grateful for his gracious welcome. pic.twitter.com/MVIrkbacQb
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) September 29, 2023
Martin is a nice guy and probably was happy with the pope's statement as good enough. He seemed pretty happy to be at the synod at all, which conservative Catholics felt excluded from and, according to the Washington Post, viewed with "dread," given all the leftist nuts out there who will be at the event.
Martin is on the left and seems pretty radical, but compared to what's seen in Europe, he is not that radical. Some of these factions who are giving the pope real problems are in places such as Germany, where clergy already are blessing gay unions and threatening to break up the Church. While the pope is clear that he can't stand conservatives, those Germans are a real problem and need to be pushed back upon, which he seems to recognize and be willing to do, albeit not because he likes to, but because he has to.
This might explain why the pope made the statement he made, creating the appearance of being open to gay "marriage," but not the substance.
In reality, he gave the lefties nothing here. The lefties may be cheering, but the bottom line is, he gave them nothing. Church doctrine on marriage stands, and he knows he can't alter it. His leftist pals can think he gave them something if they want to, but Eric Hoffer's observation remains operative.
Image: Twitter screen shot.