Vatican City, Nov 4, 2017 / 12:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).-
Last weekend, Pope Francis delivered a keynote speech to a major conference on the future of the European Union. Although the Pope is often characterized as a staunch progressive, his Oct. 28 speech was a reminder that his views on life, marriage, and sexuality go beyond the stereotypes with which he is often characterized.
During the speech, the Pope spoke out against abortion, and said the Christian understanding of the family can serve as a model on which the European continent can base its identity as it faces a changing and uncertain future.
Speaking to participants in the Oct. 27-29 conference “(Re)Thinking Europe: A Christian Contribution to the Future of the European Project,” Pope Francis stressed that the family, “as the primordial community,” is fundamental to understanding Europe’s increasingly multicultural and multiethnic identity.
In the family, “diversity is valued and at the same time brought into unity,” Francis said, explaining that the family “is the harmonious union of the differences between man and woman, which becomes stronger and more authentic to the extent that it is fruitful, capable of opening itself to life and to others.”
Likewise, he said secular communities are also “alive” when they are capable “of openness, embracing the differences and gifts of each person while at the same time generating new life, development, labor, innovation and culture.”
He also pointed to the low birth rate in Europe, lamenting the fact that there are so few children because “all too many were denied the right to be born.”
These comments, which echo the critiques of European secularism often proffered by Benedict XVI, might surprise those who have, since the beginning of his pontificate, painted Francis as being untethered by Catholic doctrine.
Yet while the Pope has often seemed to take a progressive approach to liturgy and has been outspoken on environmental issues, he has also been equally loud when defending Catholic doctrine on moral issues like abortion and homosexuality in the public square.
Of course, there is still significant internal debate surrounding the interpretation of Chapter 8 of his 2015 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which addresses the Church’s response to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.
In fact, this week the debate flared up again when news came out that Father Thomas Weinandy, OFM, Cap., a member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, resigned from his position as a consultant to the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine after publishing a 5-page letter he had written to Pope Francis calling for a correction to the “chronic confusion” of his pontificate, which the priest said “fosters within the faithful a growing unease.”
The letter, which charged that Pope Francis has downplayed the importance of doctrine, created confusion, and appointed questionable bishops, made waves throughout the Catholic world, especially given Fr. Weinandy’s prominent role within the USCCB and the Pope’s theological commission.
But while Francis seems to invite debate on this and other points, he demonstrated last Saturday that he does so while calling for respect for the Catholic worldview in secular culture, especially regarding the family.
Who am I to judge?
It was early in his pontificate, on a return flight from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, that Pope Francis famously responded to a question about homosexuality in the priesthood with “who am I to judge?”
In some ways, the question became a lens through which his pontificate is often viewed, especially in the media.
Since 2013, the “who-am-I-to-judge Pope” has spoken out frequently on the need to be more welcoming of people with homosexual orientation, and has insisted on the need to use language reflecting welcome, rather than a closed door.
During his September 2015 visit to the United States, images of Pope Francis hugging a gay man circulated on the internet after he met with the man and his partner in Washington D.C. The man was a former student who had written to ask for a meeting, and the Pope accepted.
And while Pope Francis’ approach to homosexuality has been depicted by some as a deviation from the Church’s doctrine, and hailed by others as a step in the right direction, his speech to E.U. leaders is a reminder that he aims to promote a worldview guided by Catholic doctrine, rather than contradicting it.
A Catholic Worldview
Looking back throughout Francis’ pontificate, his speech on Saturday was the latest among dozens of times he has spoken on behalf of the role of the traditional family, the sacredness of human life, or the Church’s teaching on sexuality in the public square.
Some of these occasions, just to name a few, are as follows:
1. In a 2014 audience with members of the German-born, international Schoenstatt movement marking the 100th anniversary of their founding, Pope Francis said the family, in the Christian understanding, was being attacked.
“The family is being hit, the family is being struck and the family is being bastardized,” he said, noting that in the modern context, “you can call everything family, right?”
He said contemporary society has “devalued” the sacrament of marriage by turning it into a social rite and removing the most essential element, which is union with God. “So many families are divided, so many marriages broken,” he said, adding that frequently, there is “such relativism in the concept of the sacrament of marriage.”
2. On the flight back from his trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan a year ago, in October 2016, the Pope was asked about the possibility of biological roots to homosexuality and transgender identities.
Pope Francis said that those who struggle with sexuality and gender identity must be “accompanied as Jesus accompanies them,” and Jesus “surely doesn’t tell them ‘go away because you are homosexual,’” he said.
But Francis also pointed to the “wickedness which today is done in the indoctrination of gender theory” that is now frequently being taught in schools, and which he said “is against the (nature of) things.”
Pastoral accompaniment “is what Jesus would do today,” he said, but asked journalists to “please don’t say: ‘the Pope sanctifies transgenders.’…Because I see the covers of the papers.” Gender theory, he said, is “a moral problem. It’s a human problem and it must be resolved…with the mercy of God, with the truth.”
During the same trip, the Pope gave a lengthy, off-the-cuff speech to priests, seminarians and pastoral workers in which he said “the whole world is at war trying to destroy marriage,” not so much with weapons, “but with ideas…(there are) certain ideologies that destroy marriage. So we need to defend ourselves from ideological colonization.”
3. In his environmental encyclical Laudato Si, published in June 2015, Pope Francis condemned abortion, population control and transgenderism.
Regarding gender, the Pope said that, like creation, “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will. ”
Further, he said that “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment.”
He also said that to protect nature is “incompatible with the justification of abortion,” and that it is “clearly inconsistent” to combat human trafficking or protect endangered species while being indifferent to the choice of many people “to destroy another human being deemed unwanted.”
Francis also lamented that “instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate.”
“Demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development,” he said, adding that to blame a growing population for poverty and an unequal distribution of resources rather than the “extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.”
4. In February 2015, the Pope praised Slovakia, which had voted against a referendum to legalize same-sex “marriage,” voicing his appreciation “to the entire Slovak Church, encouraging everyone to continue their efforts in defense of the family, the vital cell of society.”
Defying stereotypes
The Pope has made more statements along the same lines over the past few years in general audiences, as well as in homilies, speeches and letters, advocating for public respect for the Church’s position on life, marriage, and family.
When the Pope spelled out his vision for the Christian contribution to the continent of Europe on Saturday, he made it clear that his moral and political vision is one based on the Church’s longstanding teaching on the family.
Pope Francis can be hard to pin down at times, and the resulting “gray area” often leads to stereotype – which is why he is so frequently the subject of caricature, rather than serious study. But caricatures of Francis inevitably miss the mark.
On Saturday, Pope Francis proved this by again reminding Europe of its roots, and of the importance of the family and of Christianity to those roots, showing himself to be a leader who, instead of falling into stereotypes, defies them.
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We read: “Record numbers of Catholics have left the Church in Germany in recent years with 272,771 people formally leaving in 2019.”
Did they leave the Church, or did the Church leave them?
In Germany, according to a friend of mine who lives there, you are required to state your religious affiliation on your tax return so that each officially recognized religious institution gets a pro rata share of the funds collected for the support of religion. It’s a big complaint of people who belong to unrecognized bodies that they get no funds even though they pay taxes for it. Changing your affiliation is considered an official declaration that you are no longer a member of a particular religion.
Worse than that. To not declare on the tax return is regarded as “apostasy” and punished with excommunication. Emeritus pope Benedict said in one of his published interviews that, given European history, the tax might make sense but that the punishment was “indefensible.”
Wow your excommunicated for not allowing tax funds to be designated to the Church, but its okay for Catholoic politicians to support abortions. What’s wrong with that?
Good point!
This is what happens when the Church gets in bed with the government. The German system of the government collecting taxes for support of churches is one of the worst concepts every created. It has created some very wealthy bishops. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26746110 It is my understanding that if you formally “opt out” of your faith community you don’t pay the tax; however, the churches can refuse you sacraments such as marriage. Yea, who could have predicted what is happening … well, just about anyone!
A number of German Catholics including some very high officials have said that ” it cannot be that German Bishops are talking about homosexuality ” day and night “.
This is certainly the impression many of the faithful have; their number one favourite theme is homosexuality and to legitimize sodomy.
Shocking seems a soft vocable to express what’s now taking place. And they don’t seem in any way to be ashamed of their open support and love for practised homosexuality.
Many are wondering; ” why this obsession with homosexuality?”.
Where is Christ in their vision? New evangelization?
The Church is already plagued by massive homosexual abuse ( 86 – 90 percent of all the victims are of male sex).Ans these Bishops want to persuade the faithful and the victims that more practised homosexuality in and outside of the Church is the medicine!
God bless Cardinal Pell! Praying foe him every day since over two years.
I strongly recommend reading his diaries from prison.
Volume I is excellent. The Cardinal’s book shows great fortitude and patience. It should be read by every Catholic who needs to grasp how blessed we are to live in freedom. We may need to fight for that soon.
My lament for Germany relates to memories three years as a young infantryman Aschaffenburg life impacting friendships years after. Forest shrines Christ crucified hidden chapels the amazing honesty of children purchasing bread beer cheese for us when on field maneuvers churches packed on Sundays. Years later a seminarian friend, former German airman Battle of Britain whose tragic personal life found a decent, gentle person a rarity among his peers. Years later the priest rector of the German College the only Angelicum lecturer willing to direct my Aquinas thesis considered too radical. I don’t like the insults directed at Germans and Germany similar to contemptuous remarks about Italian Americans. Pell a survivor of, perhaps Vatican chicanery has a right to lament German Catholicism. Suffering can elicit our best sentiments. We can endlessly discuss why German Catholicism is fast dissolving into pre Christian amorality. Sexual disorder, moral complacency, exodus within a German Church groomed for decades in Darkness has found catalyst beneath the paginal depths of a certain Apostolic exhortation.
Thank you for defending Germany, with all her faults. Our beloved Benedict’s biography about the Germany that was is part of that. I am SO WEARY of nastiness about Germany. Isn’t it remarkable that there are never movies or commentary on the Japanese (except Hiroshima etc) participation in WWII in comparison? The horrors of what those who lived through Japanese occupation and prison camps is rarely mentioned. The Left goes in only one direction.
It would appear that the Pope is planning to do nothing about this situation until it is past the point of no return.Schism is what they are clearly aiming for .It would be best if this situation were handled NOW before this high stakes game gets even worse, and the Germans have too much invested to back away from their position. The Pope should call in these German Bishops and inform them without equivocation that if they take their positions ( like the gay blessings on May 10th) to it’s proposed conclusion, they will be excommunicated from the Catholic church. And then, whoever and whatever they pretend to be, they will NOT be Catholics. The church has for decades spent far too much time pussyfooting around various issues for fear of public reaction or of people leaving the Church. Be more concerned about preserving the truth. That is true even if the number of believers is smaller. Truth exists, or it does not. If it does, it must be defended in no uncertain terms. Being “nice” is a secular value, not an expression of religious belief, and does not trump dogma and church teachings. Hoping for the best and trying to convince by “niceness”, while allowing them to possibly distribute communion like so much free candy and condone homosexual behavior will not help defend the church and her teachings. What is Francis waiting for??
In which other European countries does the government tax system also exist? Belgium’s bishop Bonny seems to be pretty preoccupied with homosexuality like the German-language bishops.
According to Wiki, the tax law varies from country to country, but the short answer is: “A church tax is imposed in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Sweden, some parts of Switzerland and several other countries. In Spain, paying a church tax is optional.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax#:~:text=A%20church%20tax%20is%20a%20tax%20imposed%20by,some%20parts%20of%20Switzerland%20and%20several%20other%20countries.
I so admire Cardinal Pell. He is still practicing the forthright honesty and strong love of the truth that got him unjustly charged and imprisoned in Australia. He must be a great comfort and hope for however many good priests and laity in Germany. I am sure that the painful price he paid for following Christ and His Churches teachings is not lost on them and for that matter even me. It engenders courage, that one virtue which God gives immediately when the faithful ask for it. Take heart, even though we endure suffering, in the end all will be well. As Mother Teresa said, “The only thing left to do is to remain faithful”
Well, Pell was charged because of false allegations and corruption within the Victorian legal system, and following a long defamatory campaign in the media about him doing little to take action against abusers while remarking, unfortunately, re the Ballarat scourge, to the Royal Commission that it wasn’t of much interest to him.
The true Catholic Church interprets Holy Scripture which is a Catholic book. Neglecting to mention this is bordering on support for Protestants. Yes, I know that Pell also said “to uphold the teachings of the Church,” but that didn’t make it into the headline.
Personally, I think that this is a very good turn of events. No more pretense. No more faking it. Now we know the lines are drawn: the side of the Shepherd or the side of the wolves. The wolves have now dropped the mask. Now they are easily identifiable for the wolves that they are.
It would be helpful to know the form and content of the proposed blessing. Is it a blessing of intentions to commit what used delicately to be called ‘irregular motions of the flesh’ of various kinds? Or is it proposed to ask God to bless some stable human companionships? Or something in between? I think clarity is needed before we start talking in terms of schism and excommunication.
I humbly say that the German Bishops should listen to eminent persons like cardinal Burk, Cardinal Pell . There is no credit for rebellion against the Catholic Church. Jesus is our leader and not any secular experts who preach sex or gender equality, this and that. The Catholic Church is depository of truth. I am sorry to enquire whether these Bishops have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. For that one has to be Huber and converse with Jesus daily for a long time. Simply by seeing the sinful secular world some priests and bishops tread on wrong path.
Cardinal Pell is a true and good shepherd of his flock. He was wrongfully accused of a horrible act he could never have committed solely because he would have been a very strong candidate to be the next pope in a future conclave. God will have the ultimate say on who the next and maybe even final pope will be. He will be a very bold and outspoken critic of the culture of death agenda. God and the Holy Spirit are never wrong. Their decision has already been made. Interesting times ahead for both the Church and mankind. PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!