Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley attends a press conference to present the first report of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Oct. 29, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images
Vatican City, Oct 29, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).
Cardinal Seán O’Malley, archbishop of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, stressed that “celibacy is not the cause of pedophilia” but highlighted the need for more reforms within the Church to adopt a victim-centered approach to better safeguard children.
Following the presentation of the first annual report on safeguarding released by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Tuesday, O’Malley stated that he has “never seen any serious studies that have indicated that celibacy and sexual abuse is related.”
“Yes, we are aware of the incredible damage that [pedophilia] has done to the credibility of the Church and our ability to have a prophetic voice in society,” the cardinal said in response to a journalist’s question on a potential “link between celibacy and sex abuse” at the Oct. 29 press briefing.
“And that only underscores the urgency of the Church to reform itself so that we can carry on Christ’s mission and be a sign of his love. And the kingdom of God is about justice and truth, and these are the core values that we’re talking about here,” he added.
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a jurist and international advocate for children’s rights who was appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2022, also stated that she did not see any relationship between celibacy and criminal sexual abuse against children.
“I don’t see any relationship,” she said. “Sexual relationships with children is a crime and the ones who commit this have a problem, which is related to their psychological state of mind.”
“There is no exception for this, no excuse for this crime. Children should be respected in their integrity — physical and moral. So whether celibate or not, it doesn’t matter. The children should be protected,” she said.
O’Malley stated that the goal of the pontifical commission, which he has headed since its establishment in 2014, is “to do everything possible” to address the lack of justice and recognition from people in the Church.
“Your suffering and wounds have opened our eyes to the fact that — as a Church — we have failed to care for victims, and that we didn’t defend you, and that we resisted understanding you when you needed us most,” he said at the Tuesday press briefing.
“We hope that this report — and those that will come — compiled with the help of victims and survivors at the center, will help to ensure the firm commitment that these events never happen again in the Church.”
According to O’Malley the annual safeguarding report — which outlines the Vatican’s policies and procedures for the protection of minors — is intended to complement the commission’s advocacy role as well as support the work of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).
“The work of the DDF is so central in the administration of justice in the area of sexual abuse, and our task is to try and bring a pastoral dimension to that and the voice of the victims,” the cardinal said.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors marks its 10th anniversary this year. It is now a permanent institution within the Vatican tasked with accompanying and assisting local Churches’ safeguarding ministries through formation and training.
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Vatican City, Oct 24, 2018 / 04:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis Wednesday removed Bishop Martin D. Holley from the pastoral government of the Diocese of Memphis and appointed Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville to oversee the diocese until further notice.
The Vatican announced Oct. 24 that Pope Francis “has relieved” Bishop Holley “from the pastoral government of the diocese of Memphis” and appointed Archbishop Kurtz temporary apostolic administrator “ad nutum Sanctae Sedis,” meaning “at the disposition of the Holy See.”
The removal follows a Vatican investigation into the Diocese of Memphis in June to address concerns about major changes Bishop Holley, 63, had made. Among these was the reassignment of up to two-thirds of the 60 active priests in the diocese, according to local media reports.
The apostolic visitation, as it is called, was carried out by Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta and Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul-Minneapolis. They spent three days “fact-finding” in the diocese, including conducting interviews with Memphis-area clergy and laypeople, according to Memphis newspaper The Commercial Appeal.
The outcome of the apostolic visitation has not been made public.
In a letter to his priests in June, reported on by The Commercial Appeal, Holley said: “Many of you may have read, seen or heard news this week that an apostolic visitation was made to our diocese.”
“We are respectful of the confidentiality of the Apostolic Nunciature’s process and are thankful that some of you were invited to participate in that process,” he said.
Holley was installed as bishop of Memphis Oct. 19, 2016, after serving as auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C. for 12 years.
In July, he was one of three Tennessee bishops who issued a letter to the state’s governor encouraging him to halt the then-pending execution of Billy Irick, who died by lethal injection August 9.
The bishops emphasized the value of all human life, even that of those convicted of horrendous crimes, offering themselves a resource to the governor for any questions regarding Catholic teaching on the subject.
While in Washington, Bishop Holley had served on multiple committees for Cultural Diversity, as well as subcommittees for Africa; African-American Catholics; Laity, Women, Children and Youth; and Migration.
He had also been a member of the International Catholic Foundation for the Service of Deaf People and been on a number of committees for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, including the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth; Pro-Life Activities; and the Subcommittee for Hispanic Affairs.
Holley was born Dec. 31, 1954, in Pensacola, Fl., and ordained a priest for the diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in 1987.
Bishops process into St. Peter’s Basilica for the closing Mass of the first assembly of the Synod on Synodality on Oct. 29, 2023. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Jul 9, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
The guiding document for the final part of the Synod on Synodality, published Tuesday, focuses on how to implement certain of the synod’s aims, while laying aside some of the more controversial topics from last year’s gathering, like women’s admission to the diaconate.
“Without tangible changes, the vision of a synodal Church will not be credible,” the Instrumentum Laboris, or “working tool,” says.
The six sections of the roughly 30-page document will be the subject of prayer, conversation, and discernment by participants in the second session of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held throughout the month of October in Rome.
Instead of focusing on questions and “convergences,” as in last year’s Instrumentum Laboris, “it is now necessary that … a consensus can be reached,” said a FAQ page from synod organizers, also released July 9, answering a question about why the structure was different from last year’s Instrumentum Laboris.
The guiding document for the first session of the Synod on Synodality in 2023 covered such hot-button topics as women deacons, priestly celibacy, and LGBTQ outreach.
By contrast, this year’s text mostly avoids these subjects, while offering concrete proposals for instituting a listening and accompaniment ministry, greater lay involvement in parish economics and finances, and more powerful parish councils.
“It is difficult to imagine a more effective way to promote a synodal Church than the participation of all in decision-making and taking processes,” it states.
The working tool also refers to the 10 study groups formed late last year to tackle different themes deemed “matters of great relevance” by the Synod’s first session in October 2023. These groups will continue to meet through June 2025 but will provide an update on their progress at the second session in October.
The possibility of the admission of women to the diaconate will not be a topic during the upcoming assembly, the Instrumentum Laboris said.
The new document was presented at a July 9 press conference by Cardinals Mario Grech and Jean-Claude Hollerich, together with the special secretaries of the synodal assembly: Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa and Father Riccardo Battocchio.
“The Synod is already changing our way of being and living the Church regardless of the October assembly,” Hollerich said, pointing to testimonies shared in the most recent reports sent by bishops’ conferences.
The Oct. 2-27 gathering of the Synod on Synodality will mark the end of the discernment phase of the Church’s synodal process, which Pope Francis opened in 2021.
Participants in the fall meeting, including Catholic bishops, priests, religious, and laypeople from around the world, will use the Instrumentum Laboris as a guide for their “conversations in the Spirit,” the method of discussion introduced at the 2023 assembly. They will also prepare and vote on the Synod on Synodality’s advisory final document, which will then be given to the pope, who decides the Church’s next steps and if he wishes to adopt the text as a papal document or to write his own.
The third phase of the synod — after “the consultation of the people of God” and “the discernment of the pastors” — will be “implementation,” according to organizers.
Prominent topics
The 2024 Instrumentum Laboris also addresses the need for transparency to restore the Church’s credibility in the face of sexual abuse of adults and minors and financial scandals.
“If the synodal Church wants to be welcoming,” the document reads, “then accountability and transparency must be at the core of its action at all levels, not only at the level of authority.”
It recommends effective lay involvement in pastoral and economic planning, the publication of annual financial statements certified by external auditors, annual summaries of safeguarding initiatives, the promotion of women to positions of authority, and periodic performance evaluations on those exercising a ministry or holding a position in the Church.
“These are points of great importance and urgency for the credibility of the synodal process and its implementation,” the document says.
The greater participation of women in all levels of the Church, a reform of the education of priests, and greater formation for all Catholics are also included in the text.
Bishops’ conferences, it says, noticed an untapped potential for women’s participation in many areas of Church life. “They also call for further exploration of ministerial and pastoral modalities that better express the charisms and gifts the Spirit pours out on women in response to the pastoral needs of our time,” the document states.
Formation in listening is identified as “an essential initial requirement” for Catholics, as well as how to engage in the practice of “conversation in the Spirit,” which was employed in the first session of the Synod on Synodality.
Pope Francis and delegates at the Synod on Synodality at the conclusion of the assembly on Oct. 28, 2023. Credit: Vatican Media
The document says the need for formation has been one of the most universal and strong themes throughout the synodal process. Interreligious dialogue also is identified as an important aspect of the synodal journey.
On the topic of the liturgy, the Instrumentum Laboris says there was “a call for adequately trained lay men and women to contribute to preaching the Word of God, including during the celebration of the Eucharist.”
“It is necessary that the pastoral proposals and liturgical practices preserve and make ever more evident the link between the journey of Christian initiation and the synodal and missionary life of the Church,” the document says. “The appropriate pastoral and liturgical arrangements must be developed in the plurality of situations and cultures in which the local Churches are immersed …”
How it was drafted
Dubbed the “Instrumentum Laboris 2,” the document released Tuesday has been in preparation since early June when approximately 20 experts in theology, ecclesiology, and canon law held a closed-door meeting to analyze around 200 synod reports from bishops’ conferences and religious communities responding to what the Instrumentum Laboris called “the guiding question” of the next stage of the Synod on Synodality: “How to be a synodal Church in mission?”
After the 10-day gathering, “an initial version” of the text was drafted based on those reports and sent to around 70 people — priests, religious, and laypeople — “from all over the world, of various ecclesial sensitivities and from different theological ‘schools,’” for consultation, according to the synod website.
The XVI Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod, together with consultants of the synod secretariat, finalized the document.
According to the working tool, soliciting new reports and feedback after the consultation phase ended is “consistent with the circularity characterizing the whole synodal process.”
“In preparation for the Second Session, and during its work, we continue to address this question: how can the identity of the synodal People of God in mission take concrete form in the relationships, paths and places where the everyday life of the Church takes place?” it says.
The document says “other questions that emerged during the journey are the subject of work that continues in other ways, at the level of the local Churches as well as in the ten Study Groups.”
Expectations for final session
According to the guiding document, the second session of the Synod on Synodality can “expect a further deepening of the shared understanding of synodality, a better focus on the practices of a synodal Church, and the proposal of some changes in canon law (there may be yet more significant and profound developments as the basic proposal is further assimilated and lived.)”
“Nonetheless,” it continues, “we cannot expect the answer to every question. In addition, other proposals will emerge along the way, on the path of conversion and reform that the Second Session will invite the whole Church to undertake.”
The Instrumentum Laboris says, “Synodality is not an end in itself … If the Second Session is to focus on certain aspects of synodal life, it does so with a view to greater effectiveness in mission.”
In its brief conclusion, the text states: “The questions that the Instrumentum Laboris asks are: how to be a synodal Church in mission; how to engage in deep listening and dialogue; how to be co-responsible in the light of the dynamism of our personal and communal baptismal vocation; how to transform structures and processes so that all may participate and share the charisms that the Spirit pours out on each for the common good; how to exercise power and authority as service. Each of these questions is a service to the Church and, through its action, to the possibility of healing the deepest wounds of our time.”
Pope Francis meets participants in the general chapter of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, June 13, 2022. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2022 / 06:52 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said on Monday that… […]
7 Comments
“celibacy is not the cause”
No, Cardinal, but homosexuality IS the cause. Say it loud and proud.
Quote: “O’Malley stated that he has “never seen any serious studies that have indicated that celibacy and sexual abuse is related.”
This is truly sad. It appears that those people responsible for doing something re: abuse have never even GOOGLED the subject. The first google “studies of connection between celibacy and sexual abuse” gives:
2023 – ‘In Defense of Married Priesthood: A Sociotheological Investigation of Catholic Clerical Celibacy’, Chapter 6 Celibacy, Sexual Abuse, and Married Priesthood: Exploring the Sociological Connections (by Vivencio O. Ballano, Associate Professor V of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology).
And more, more and more, of papers and books. Of course, since Cardinal O’Malley does not define what “a serious study” entails he can claim that those works are not serious.
Sexual abuse in the Church is not just an abuse of children; it is also an abuse of nuns, lay women and even men (especially young) – an abuse of those who is an easy target – so I propose to treat it as “sexual abuse within the Church”. From what I have studied a pattern emerges, among those who become priests:
– Those with a vocation of both priesthood and celibacy (their (either) sexual orientation is sublimated)
– Those with a vocation of priesthood but without a true vocation of celibacy
– Those who become priest to cover their emotional deficiency and/or sexual orientation
The first group, obviously, is the happiest in their vocation. They are extremely unlikely to abuse.
The second will suffer and most will “slip off” having affairs, harming themselves and their lovers. They desperately want an emotional connection and intimacy. Some of those priests would leave priesthood and marry.
The third group is the most troublesome. Being undeveloped emotionally, they treat others as mere tools for their satisfaction. They crave power and sex and not intimacy; they are immature so they cannot understand that love is not only about sex so they practice sex without an attachment. This is why abusing children is OK for some of that group. This is also why:
Quote: “I don’t see any relationship, [between celibacy and criminal sexual abuse]” she said. “Sexual relationships with children is a crime and the ones who commit this have a problem, which is related to their psychological state of mind.”
is very strange, to put it mildly.
Yes, it is a crime; yes, a person who does it has a problem related to their psyche BUT their psyche is attracted to priesthood because it perfectly matches the needs of their psyche. A compulsory celibacy will cover their psychological immaturity and (in some cases) even perversions; furthermore, it will give them an air of a superiority, angelic-like state; it will give them a power over everyone and so on. All that is perfect for their psychological needs.
From my experience, the third group tends to constitute about a half of priests. Hence, while I would never say “celibacy breeds abusers”, I must say that compulsory celibacy of priests coupled with position of superiority breeds an air charged with suppressed (not sublimated) libido in which something bad will inevitably happen.
Finally, the most mature and balances priests I have met came to priesthood late in life, after thirty-five-forty. They had professions which demanded close dealing with various people so they knew how to connect.
NB: I do not claim to know the correct proportion of three groups. I am from a diocese with a very rich history of abuse so it is probably why I have seen stunningly many priests along a narcissistic spectrum. Neither I am saying that all priests in the second group would engage in affairs. Finally, the majority of the third group tend to act out their sexual urges in a covert/cerebral way which, in my opinion, is spiritually very damaging, very much along the line of Cardinal Fernandez treaties (forgot the name of the book, a perversion of Catholic mysticism).
If celibacy is not a relevant variable in the study of clergy sexual abuse, then why is there so much disparity between the incidence of abuse by deacons vs those of the presbytery? And, again, if celibacy is not an issue, why is there such a disparity between the incidence of abuse between clergy of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches and those of the Roman Catholic Church?
Celibacy is not the cause of the heinous sexual abuse crisis , the failure to Love, to respect, protect, and defend the inherent Dignity of every beloved son and daughter is.
It is not The Faithful who are responsible for the heinous abuse crisis, The Faithful hold fast to The Deposit Of Faith and thus to Christ’s teaching on sexual morality.
It’s unrealistic to base an assessment of priests’ celibacy from the perspective of a diocesan onlooker or two experiences. A wider scope of experience, living with priests here and abroad would provide a fuller data based resource to compare with our own experience as priest.
Celibacy was never intended to be easy, or necessarily a form of sublimation of sexual desire buried somewhere in the subconscious [not all are John of the Cross]. It’s pure and simply said a sacrifice. One in which our real, existential desires of Man for women. It’s a life of temptation, prayer, negation, and emotional physical suffering. The way of the cross.
Best measure of this is Paul the Apostle who suffered a thorn in the flesh sent by Satan. Paul suffered physically throughout his priesthood and bore it with great courage. A thorn in the flesh indicates sensual suffering. Likely sexual desire and human weakness. Physical pain would strengthen his faith, sexual weakness discourages. Aquinas thought the same regarding the great Apostle. As do I. Christ’s grace suffices. His power more manifest in our weakness.
JimmyM identified the root of sexual abuse in our Church. One which Cdl O’Malley I’m confident is aware must realistically come to grips with. The significant presence of homosexuals in the priesthood.
And then, in the United States, there’s the Report John Jay College of Criminal Justice which found that 85 percent of the sexual abuse cases victimized older boys and were homosexual in origin—not pedophiliac.
LOOKING BACK, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the “Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics” (December 19, 1975), we might recall moments in another Dark Age. Consider the peasant wife whose dirt-farmer husband has finally despaired and committed suicide. Before the insights of abnormal psychology involving impaired free will, the suffering wife was told by the local padre that “God has sent him straight to hell for all eternity.”
FAST FORWARD to today’s Dark Age. Instead of “listening” to the findings of relevant gnome research, and the role of early sexual abuse, of abusive or absentee fathers, and of the slippery slope of even pre-teen sexual experimentation within a porn culture, and altered brain chemistry…instead of such considerations, another cleric misinforms the homosexual that “God who made you that way.”
It’s almost as if some successor of the Apostles should write something or other to counsel respect and compassion, but to not omit something like this, “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective evil.”
Wait, what? Building on the 1975 Declaration, Ratzinger already said exactly this in his 1986 “Letter to Bishops of the Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” (n. 3). At least the Synod expunged the term “LGBTQ” from its Final Report.
SUMMARY: as a corrective to pastoral and institutional amnesia and worse, maybe court-jester Jiminy Cricket James Martin can be sent forth to find himself a hobby other than as photo-op/activist consultor to the Vatican Secretariat on Communications. Yes?
“celibacy is not the cause”
No, Cardinal, but homosexuality IS the cause. Say it loud and proud.
Quote: “O’Malley stated that he has “never seen any serious studies that have indicated that celibacy and sexual abuse is related.”
This is truly sad. It appears that those people responsible for doing something re: abuse have never even GOOGLED the subject. The first google “studies of connection between celibacy and sexual abuse” gives:
2023 – ‘In Defense of Married Priesthood: A Sociotheological Investigation of Catholic Clerical Celibacy’, Chapter 6 Celibacy, Sexual Abuse, and Married Priesthood: Exploring the Sociological Connections (by Vivencio O. Ballano, Associate Professor V of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology).
And more, more and more, of papers and books. Of course, since Cardinal O’Malley does not define what “a serious study” entails he can claim that those works are not serious.
Sexual abuse in the Church is not just an abuse of children; it is also an abuse of nuns, lay women and even men (especially young) – an abuse of those who is an easy target – so I propose to treat it as “sexual abuse within the Church”. From what I have studied a pattern emerges, among those who become priests:
– Those with a vocation of both priesthood and celibacy (their (either) sexual orientation is sublimated)
– Those with a vocation of priesthood but without a true vocation of celibacy
– Those who become priest to cover their emotional deficiency and/or sexual orientation
The first group, obviously, is the happiest in their vocation. They are extremely unlikely to abuse.
The second will suffer and most will “slip off” having affairs, harming themselves and their lovers. They desperately want an emotional connection and intimacy. Some of those priests would leave priesthood and marry.
The third group is the most troublesome. Being undeveloped emotionally, they treat others as mere tools for their satisfaction. They crave power and sex and not intimacy; they are immature so they cannot understand that love is not only about sex so they practice sex without an attachment. This is why abusing children is OK for some of that group. This is also why:
Quote: “I don’t see any relationship, [between celibacy and criminal sexual abuse]” she said. “Sexual relationships with children is a crime and the ones who commit this have a problem, which is related to their psychological state of mind.”
is very strange, to put it mildly.
Yes, it is a crime; yes, a person who does it has a problem related to their psyche BUT their psyche is attracted to priesthood because it perfectly matches the needs of their psyche. A compulsory celibacy will cover their psychological immaturity and (in some cases) even perversions; furthermore, it will give them an air of a superiority, angelic-like state; it will give them a power over everyone and so on. All that is perfect for their psychological needs.
From my experience, the third group tends to constitute about a half of priests. Hence, while I would never say “celibacy breeds abusers”, I must say that compulsory celibacy of priests coupled with position of superiority breeds an air charged with suppressed (not sublimated) libido in which something bad will inevitably happen.
Finally, the most mature and balances priests I have met came to priesthood late in life, after thirty-five-forty. They had professions which demanded close dealing with various people so they knew how to connect.
NB: I do not claim to know the correct proportion of three groups. I am from a diocese with a very rich history of abuse so it is probably why I have seen stunningly many priests along a narcissistic spectrum. Neither I am saying that all priests in the second group would engage in affairs. Finally, the majority of the third group tend to act out their sexual urges in a covert/cerebral way which, in my opinion, is spiritually very damaging, very much along the line of Cardinal Fernandez treaties (forgot the name of the book, a perversion of Catholic mysticism).
If celibacy is not a relevant variable in the study of clergy sexual abuse, then why is there so much disparity between the incidence of abuse by deacons vs those of the presbytery? And, again, if celibacy is not an issue, why is there such a disparity between the incidence of abuse between clergy of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches and those of the Roman Catholic Church?
Celibacy is not the cause of the heinous sexual abuse crisis , the failure to Love, to respect, protect, and defend the inherent Dignity of every beloved son and daughter is.
It is not The Faithful who are responsible for the heinous abuse crisis, The Faithful hold fast to The Deposit Of Faith and thus to Christ’s teaching on sexual morality.
It’s unrealistic to base an assessment of priests’ celibacy from the perspective of a diocesan onlooker or two experiences. A wider scope of experience, living with priests here and abroad would provide a fuller data based resource to compare with our own experience as priest.
Celibacy was never intended to be easy, or necessarily a form of sublimation of sexual desire buried somewhere in the subconscious [not all are John of the Cross]. It’s pure and simply said a sacrifice. One in which our real, existential desires of Man for women. It’s a life of temptation, prayer, negation, and emotional physical suffering. The way of the cross.
Best measure of this is Paul the Apostle who suffered a thorn in the flesh sent by Satan. Paul suffered physically throughout his priesthood and bore it with great courage. A thorn in the flesh indicates sensual suffering. Likely sexual desire and human weakness. Physical pain would strengthen his faith, sexual weakness discourages. Aquinas thought the same regarding the great Apostle. As do I. Christ’s grace suffices. His power more manifest in our weakness.
JimmyM identified the root of sexual abuse in our Church. One which Cdl O’Malley I’m confident is aware must realistically come to grips with. The significant presence of homosexuals in the priesthood.
And then, in the United States, there’s the Report John Jay College of Criminal Justice which found that 85 percent of the sexual abuse cases victimized older boys and were homosexual in origin—not pedophiliac.
LOOKING BACK, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the “Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics” (December 19, 1975), we might recall moments in another Dark Age. Consider the peasant wife whose dirt-farmer husband has finally despaired and committed suicide. Before the insights of abnormal psychology involving impaired free will, the suffering wife was told by the local padre that “God has sent him straight to hell for all eternity.”
FAST FORWARD to today’s Dark Age. Instead of “listening” to the findings of relevant gnome research, and the role of early sexual abuse, of abusive or absentee fathers, and of the slippery slope of even pre-teen sexual experimentation within a porn culture, and altered brain chemistry…instead of such considerations, another cleric misinforms the homosexual that “God who made you that way.”
It’s almost as if some successor of the Apostles should write something or other to counsel respect and compassion, but to not omit something like this, “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective evil.”
Wait, what? Building on the 1975 Declaration, Ratzinger already said exactly this in his 1986 “Letter to Bishops of the Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” (n. 3). At least the Synod expunged the term “LGBTQ” from its Final Report.
SUMMARY: as a corrective to pastoral and institutional amnesia and worse, maybe court-jester Jiminy Cricket James Martin can be sent forth to find himself a hobby other than as photo-op/activist consultor to the Vatican Secretariat on Communications. Yes?