An
influential prelate of the Catholic Church has said a recent declaration by
Pope Francis on gay marriage can best be described as his private opinions, not
an official position of the church.
According
to Cardinal Raymond Burke, the context within which the Pope made the comments
make them “devoid of any magisterial weight”.
Global
news networks like the CNN, Reuters, and the New York Times have reported that
Pope Francis has declared support for civil unions for same-sex couples.
Reuters
reports that he made the comments in a new documentary “Francesco” by
Oscar-nominated director, Evgeny Afineevsky, which was on Wednesday, October
21, 2020.
The
Catholic Church has for centuries considered homosexual act as grave
immorality.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, which contains the centuries-old traditions
of the church, teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”
Since the news about Pope Francis’ declaration
broke on Wednesday, Catholics in Ghana and other parts of the world have been
seeking clarification.
In what
is a clear response on the confusion created by the news report within the
Catholic community, Cardinal Burke states on his personal blog that: “it is a
source of deepest sadness and pressing pastoral concern that the private
opinions reported with so much emphasis by the press and attributed to Pope
Francis do not correspond to the constant teaching of the Church, as it is
expressed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and is guarded, protected
and interpreted by the Magisterium.”
The
Vatican is expected to issue an official response soon.
Read Cardinal Burke’s full explanation on the
Pope’s comment below:
Statement
on the Declarations of Pope Francis Regarding Civil Unions
ON OCT
22, 2020
The
worldwide communications media have reported with strong emphasis, as a change
of course, the news that Pope Francis has declared that persons in the
homosexual condition, as children of God, “have a right to have a family” and
that “no one should be thrown out or be made unhappy because of it.” Moreover,
they write that he has declared: “What we have to create is a civil union. In
this way they will be legally covered. I have defended this.” The declarations
were made in an interview with Evgeny Afineevsky, director of a documentary,
“Francesco,” premiered on October 21, 2020, on the occasion of the Rome Film
Festival (Festa del Film di Roma).
Such
declarations generate great bewilderment and cause confusion and error among
Catholic faithful, inasmuch as they are contrary to the teaching of Sacred
Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and of the recent Magisterium by which the
Church guards, protects and interprets the whole deposit of faith contained in
Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. They cause wonderment and error
regarding the Church’s teaching among people of good will, who sincerely wish
to know what the Catholic Church teaches. They impose upon pastors of souls the
duty of conscience to make fitting and necessary clarifications.
First of
all, the context and the occasion of such declarations make them devoid of any
magisterial weight. They are rightly interpreted as simple private opinions of
the person who made them. These declarations do not bind, in any manner, the
consciences of the faithful who are rather obliged to adhere with religious
submission to what Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and the ordinary
Magisterium of the Church teach on the matter in question. In particular, the
following are to be noted.
1.
“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of
grave depravity, Tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are
intrinsically disordered” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2357; Sacred
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Persona humana, “Declaration on
Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics, no. VIII[1]), inasmuch as they are
contrary to the natural law, closed to the gift of life and void of a true
affective and sexual complementarity. Therefore, they cannot be approved.
2. The
particular and sometimes deep-seated tendencies of persons, men and women, in
the homosexual condition, which are for them a trial, although they may not in
themselves constitute a sin, represent nonetheless an objectively disordered
inclination (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2358; Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Homosexualitatis problema, “Letter to the Bishops of the
Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,” no. 3[2]). They
are, therefore, to be received with respect, compassion and sensitivity,
avoiding any unjust discrimination. The Catholic faith teaches the faithful to
hate sin but to love the sinner.
3. The
faithful, and, in particular, Catholic politicians are held to oppose the legal
recognition of homosexual unions (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition to Unions between
Homosexual Persons,Diverse questioni concernenti l’omosessualità, n. 10[3]).
The right to form a family is not a private right to vindicate but must
correspond to the plan of the Creator Who has willed the human being in sexual
difference, “male and female He created them” (Gen 1, 27), thus calling man,
male and female, to the transmission of life. “Because married couples ensure
the succession of generations and are therefore eminently within the public
interest, civil law grants them institutional recognition. Homosexual unions,
on the other hand, do not need specific attention from the legal standpoint
since they do not exercise this function for the common good.” (Ibidem, no.
9[4]). To speak of a homosexual union, in the same sense as the conjugal union
of the married, is, in fact, profoundly misleading, because there can be no
such union between persons of the same sex. In what regards the administration
of justice, persons in the homosexual condition, as all citizens, can always
make use of the provisions of law to safeguard their private rights.
It is a
source of deepest sadness and pressing pastoral concern that the private
opinions reported with so much emphasis by the press and attributed to Pope
Francis do not correspond to the constant teaching of the Church, as it is
expressed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and is guarded, protected
and interpreted by the Magisterium. Equally sad and concerning is the turmoil,
confusion, and error they cause among the Catholic faithful, as is the scandal
they cause, in general, by giving the totally false impression that the
Catholic Church has had a change of course, that is, has changed its perennial
teaching regarding such fundamental and critical questions.
Raymond
Leo Cardinal Burke Rome, October 22, 2020
[1] “…
suapte intrinseca natura esse inordinatos.” Sacra Congregatio pro Doctrina
Fidei, Declaratio, Persona humana, “De quibusdam quaestionibus ad sexualem
ethicam spectantibus,” 29 Decembris 1975, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 68 (1976) 85,
n. 8. English Translation, p. 5, VIII.
[2] Cf.
Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, Epistula, Homosexualitatis problema, “Ad
universos catholicae Ecclesiae episcopos de pastorali personarum homosexualium
cura,” 1 Octobris 1986, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (1987) 544, n. 3. English Translation,
pp. 1-2, no. 3.
[3]
Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, Nota, Diverse quaestioni concernenti
l’omosessualità, “De contubernalibus eiusdem sexus quoad iuridica a consectaria
contubernii,” 3 Iunii 2003, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 96 (2004) 48, n. 10. English
translation: English Translation, pp. 5-6, no. 10.
[4]
“Poiché le coppie matrimoniali svolgono il ruolo di garantire l’ordine delle
generazioni e sono quindi di eminente interesse pubblico, il diritto civile
conferisce loro un riconoscimento istituzionale. Le unioni omosessuali invece
non esigono una specifica attenzione da parte dell’ordinamento giuridico,
perché non rivestono il suddetto ruolo per il bene comune.” Ibid., 47, n. 9.
English translation: Ibid., p. 5, no. 9.
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