Seen by more than a few Catholics as at least a willing participant and in the spiritual state of sententia haeresi proxima (an opinion approaching heresy), Francis is at it again. As is his habit, Francis rushes headlong into de facto haersi, just to jerk away at the very last second.
The South American’s latest flirtation in denying 2,000 years of Catholic teaching would be his sowing confusion into the minds of faithful Catholics who want to do just that, be faithful Catholics.
As noted by Associated Press reporter Nicole Winfield via ABC News (emphasis mine);
Citing parents who have to cope with children who are sick, imprisoned or who get killed in car accidents, Francis added: “Parents who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude.”
“Never condemn a child,” he said.
Official church teaching calls for gay men and lesbians to be respected and loved, but considers homosexual activity “intrinsically disordered.” Francis, though, has sought to make the church more welcoming to gays, most famously with his 2013 comment “Who am I to judge?”
Not that Winfield is to be taken serious as a journalist. She fails to pass even the basics as she reported, “… St. Joseph, the father of Jesus.”
No, St. Joseph is the foster father of Jesus. To paraphrase the Nicene Creed;
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Ghost was incarnate of the Virgin Mary.
But back to the topic at hand. Of course, we should never condemn our children. But we have every right as parents, and more importantly as Children of God, we have the obligation and duty to condemn any act, lifestyle or behavior that we as believers deem as intrinsically evil.
Just FYI, churchspeak for “intrinsically evil” means that any given act, lifestyle or behavior was, is and shall always be evil. Nothing good or decent can ever come about because of it.
In regard to homosexuality, Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) plainly states (emphasis mine);
- Basic Moral Principles
- All sexual acts, outside of natural marital relations open to life, are intrinsically evil and always objective mortal sins.
- All unnatural sexual acts are intrinsically evil and always objective mortal sins.
- All sexual acts between persons of the same gender are intrinsically evil and always objective mortal sins.
- Sins are acts involving the intellect (knowing) and the will (choosing). An orientation is not, in and of itself, an act or a sin.
- The homosexual orientation itself is intrinsically evil, but is not itself a sin.
- Since the homosexual orientation is intrinsically evil, any and all acts, whether sexual or not, by which a human person knowingly chooses to move toward, cooperate with, reinforce, or act upon, a homosexual orientation is itself a sin, either venial or mortal.
- All human persons are children of God. No human person is intrinsically evil, even if he or she has an intrinsically evil sexual orientation.
- All human persons inherently deserve just and merciful treatment.
- The promotion and spread of homosexuality is offensive to God and is gravely harmful to families, the Church, and society in general.
- Society has the right and the duty to make laws which discourage sinful acts that cause serious harm to society.
In other words; love the sinner, hate the sin. That certain maxim isn’t exactly something new.