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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How much longer, Lord?
“ But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?”
Whether or not Christ finds Faith on Earth is up to us, not God . We must be Faithful and call out the counterfeit church with it’s counterfeit pope and it’s counterfeit magisterium that is attempting to subsist within The One Body Of Christ because they desire to lead others astray from The Deposit Of Faith, and create a god in their own image.
How can we “make disciples of all Nations”, while allowing certain disciples to deny Jesus The Christ?
Those whose”competence it is”, know what needs to be done to save The Papacy from the usurpers.
Pray they have the courage to call out the apostates!
Rather than be accused of gossip this comment will unmistakably be a constructive analysis. Rumor has it that Cdl McElroy is a Pope Francis favoriti. “He’s the cardinal who is most aligned with Pope Francis” (this proves the rumor is more fact than fictitious gossip).
Why should this matter? Doesn’t everyone have their favorites and their deplorables? I’d like for a minute to talk about the deplorables. Deplorables [made famous by Hillary] are a large group, moreso that favoriti. Take the US as a starter, we have Archbishops of much larger Dioceses than San Diego [where favoriti McElroy became cardinal], Denver, San Francisco. Archbishops Aquila and Cordileone must be deplorables. We also have deplorable Cardinals Raymond Burke, Gerhard Muller [Burke evicted from his Vatican apartment by Francis, Muller stripped of his staff when CDF prefect, immediately dismissed at 75, lately a thorn].
Getting back to favoriti McElroy Wash DC is likely the most prestigious US diocese, once the see of the unfortunate Theodore McCarrick. Without envisioning too far afield like the papacy that position is a type of chiefdom within American hierarchy. Since his appointment to San Diego he convened three Synods [of the Synodality kind] in that diocese, and Nov 12, 2024 Cardinal Robert McElroy has proposed that the US bishops set up a task force to implement the agenda of Synod on Synodality (CatholicVote org). Apparently McElroy will be Pope Francis’ Synodality point man and enforcer in the US.
This makes a lot of sense, that Cardinal McElroy is the point man for the pope. It’s also BAD news for American Catholics.
Thanks!! for the heads up.
Let’s pray for faithful priests to overcome the evil that is being done.
A shrewd political operator for the most political of U.S. cities. Even if this appointment seemed inevitable, I am sorry for faithful traditional Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington who have already lost so much under Traditionis Custodes. I think of someone like Msgr. Charles Pope and pray that he, and they, do not lose more.
Although Cardinal McElroy is known for being outspoken on political and social issues, I believe the Archbishop of Washington, DC, has no jurisdiction over the House, Senate or White House. So his direct influence there is limited. As I understand, Catholic Senators and Representatives “belong” to their home diocese and relatively few elected officials claim residence in the District of Columbia or the Maryland counties included in tbe diocese. The White House operates largely by its own rules. That doesn’t mean that the Archbishop of Washington can’t have indirect influence over national political leaders, as was witnessed in the years when Cardinal McCarrick was in charge. But McElroy enters the DC scene at a major transitional point, and he won’t find the same degree of welcome that he would have found under a Biden administration.
The Washington Post will prop up his insipid pseudo-Christian neo-DEI bromides while even secular liberals tire of it.
True that.
Cardinal McElroy will get more media attention than he did in San Diego, that’s for sure. He will provide the sound bites that the DC based media establishment craves. He’ll also fit in well with the very liberal DC government.
Whether he will actually have more widespread influence to the point of swaying more people, includng Catholics, to his point of view .. well, that remains to be seen. Is the Archbishop of Washington actually looked at as a de facto national leader because of his location in the nation’s capitol? Doesn’t seem like it.
This appointment ain’t gonna play in Peoria.
The Faithful must not continue to ignore the fact that “ it is a sin to accommodate an occasion of sin”, and thus cooperate with those who profess to be Catholic, while they deny The Deposit Of Faith, which is evil.
We have Catholic politicians that constantly violate the laws of our faith and the pope tells them go ahead with receive communion. We need a new pope.
“This appointment ain’t gonna play in Peoria.”
Oh, I don’t know. Have you been in Peoria, IL lately? Really sad, IMO.
Some have claimed that many of Francis’ numerous appointments to the College of Cardinals are far more conservative than one would suspect given the inclinations of the pope who named them. We’ll see if that turns out to be true. A lot of them are so obscure that I don’t think anyone can confidently predict where they’ll come down one way or another.
There is no doubt about any of his American picks, however. They are absolutely the worst selections imaginable, save, perhaps certain famous certain celebrity Jesuits who otherwise seem very much favored by Francis. Francis has a special animus toward American conservative Catholics. This outrageous appointment is just the latest middle finger to a group of people he genuinely detests.
I think Pope Francis thinks all Americans are really rich. Of course, compared to many countries, we do have a lot of people who are earning a decent living and of course, many who are very wealthy. But we still have a lot of poor, disenfranchised, homeless, under-educated, addicted people, and we still have plenty of racism victims in the U.S.
We are not the “Beverly Hills” that I think some people think we are; e.g., “There are no cats in American and the street are made of cheese! (from the movie, An American Tail). Those immigrant mice found out that there are plenty of cats in America, and the streets are definitely NOT made of cheese!
But the opportunity to make a good life in the U.S. still exists, and we still retain many of our freedoms.
We need a new pope
Noting the trifecta election results centered in DC, McElroy’s role in the wake of woke is somehow to put his thumb in the dike, or wherever.
Normal Appointment – coming from where it does…
https://www.fromrome.info/2020/02/05/vatican-intelligence-officer-i-am-a-freemason-and-so-is-bergoglio/
“His Eminence” McElroy = McCarrick, an apostate hierarch of “the-science-of-sanctifying-sodomy-now.”
He, like his promoter-of-pederasty the Pontiff Francis, are witch doctors of “the-cult-to-decapitate-the-Body-of-Christ.”
“His Eminence” McElroy, along with all of his fellow hierarchs of the McCarrick cult, are of the death cult of the dry wood, fit for the prophecy Jesus spoke to the women of Jerusalem, when he was being marched to his crucifixion.
Every church he enters will empty out of Christian faithful.
Mark my word, no faithful Catholic will listen to a word that comes from the mouth of Herr McElroy.
Pope Francis had declared he would make a special exception for the Africans’ “cultural” attitude to homosexualism. Ambongo seems to be able to work along with consequential discrepancies but Tawadros withdrew from the theological dialogue.
So if Pope Francis has homosexualism as “not a sin” also as “cultural phenomenon”, going on in his brain, then it would make sense to appoint McElroy to administer over the towers of confusion among different localities and gravitational points?
A Polyhedron with angles and vectors like Beauty = Truth and Unity = Goodness?
You know, I can understand our Lord saying let the wheat and cockle grow together until the appropriate time -as pastoral. But the Holy Father makes no sense a lot of the time; eg., things were going well with Tawadros only then to turn for the worst.
I concede that some of the exhortations don’t clarify areas that have no apparent reason to them.
Also it seems to me that none of those called in the Nativity epiphanies right up to the time of Joseph’s departure, was told he was sad, or flat, or apathetic, or resigned or trapped.
‘ Even in the darkest nights, a star shines. It is the star of Jesus, who comes to care for our fragile humanity. Let us set out towards Him. Let us not give apathy and resignation the power to trap us in the sadness of a flat life. ‘
https://x.com/Pontifex/status/1876607215177748711
Elias. As a measure for assessment, how would Saint Francis Xavier have responded if Pope Paul III had a worship ceremony for Aztec god Nahuatl [God of the sun and sacrifice] in the Vatican gardens to be followed by an enshrinement of the sun god by a group of singing dancing cardinals in the sanctuary of St Peter’s Basilica? Why was the overall reaction by the Church to the Pachamama idolatry so mild, compared to what we can safely presume would have occurred during Francis Xavier’s day?
Satan had already gained a grip on the Church with the replacement of Aztec human sacrifice with the much greater, worldwide sacrifice of prenatal infants. Homosexuality has a strange, perhaps not so strange diabolic nexus with the murder of infants, now including the sexual exploitation of children. Find an active homosexual who is against abortion. Find one who actively opposes the sexual exploitation of minors. A rarity.
What has occurred with the placement by Francis of McElroy, one, if not the most well educated, intellectual spokesman for abortion and homosexuality, is the solidification of a strategy to totally corrupt the remaining significant Roman Catholic body [putatively the rationale for Francis’ disdain], the American Catholic Church.
The McElroy appointment is about the Mercy Alone heresy flowing from Amoralist Laetitia.
The main reason for McElroy to DC is about the need to hide the sordid history of McCarrick. Watch out Wuerl! Gregory is going to want some of the millions. 💰 🤐
Where do we go from here, Lord, where do we go from here? Only to you, Lord, ONLY to you. Having defeated evil on the cross we pray and work, work and pray aspiring to be counted with your Faithful Remnant in eager anticipation of your 2nd Coming when evil is abolished, your Good Creation restored to the beautiful you intended your good creation to be.
I am a life-long Catholic, 78 years old, who was taught that this is Christ’s church.
I find myself wondering if the Pope and his favorites really believe his. Do they ask
“What does Christ want for His Church?” or Do they have their own personal idea of what
they want the Church to be, with of course an important place for them?
As I recall, Christ rebuked Apostles who were maneuvering to sit at His right hand.
He made it clear that that was not what He was about. Have our higher clergy ever read this passage?
My take is that Cardinal McElroy’s placement in the nation’s capital is a timely reminder from Pope Francis to Catholics in the U.S.. Given the second Trump administration, the rising tide of White Christian (and Catholic!) Nationalism, and the mainly anti-abortion only stand of most of pro-life activists, McElroy’s pulpit will blast the full and complete scope of what pro-life advocacy is. Cardinal McElroy has consistently preached that a consistent pro-life ethic must support not only the protection of life in the womb but also the protection of life outside the womb. Expounding Catholic Social Teachings on the sanctity of life, McElroy asserts, that Catholics are to live out their pro-life commitments in ways that reflect compassion, justice, and solidarity. This vision goes beyond merely opposing abortion or euthanasia; it encompasses a comprehensive approach that sees the life and dignity of each person as sacred, from conception to natural death, and it calls Catholics to act on behalf of those who are often disregarded by society. This means standing up for policies that defend the lost, the least, and the last, such as advocating for humane immigration policies, racial justice, and ensuring that LGBTQIA+ individuals have the same rights and dignity as others in society. Being the U.S. bishop most aligned with Pope Francis in environmental justice advocacy, Cardinal McElroy has also shown that ecological work is deeply intertwined with the pro-life movement, as the health of our environment directly impacts the dignity and survival of all life on Earth. Filling in what is often lacking in most pro-life advocacy initiatives and echoing Pope Francis, Cardinal McElroy proclaims the Catholic Social Teaching that the pro-life stance is not confined to opposing abortion or protecting the unborn; it extends to defending life in all its forms, and that includes caring for the planet that sustains all life.
Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington will pay attention to Cardinal McElroy’s appointment but “Catholics in the US” probably.won’t. Because he has no jurisdiction over them. The head of the Washington Archdiocese not acquire any national standing simply because he is seated in the national’s capitol. This limits his ability to be the kind of transformative figure you are imagining.
Given that Cardinal Gregory also supports most of the positions cited above, there may not be many dramatic changes. McElroy may be more outspoken and may grab more media attention; whether he will be more assertive in making changes to the archdiocese remains to be seen, but his changes will be to the Archdiocese of Washington, and will not apply to the country as a whole.
And there are a lot of liberals and progressives in the DC area saying saying more or less the same things that Cardinal McElroy is saying, so he is not going to stand out as much as you may imagine.
This extended screed of sycophancy sounds as if McElroy wrote it himself.
I don’t think people should be segregated or categorized by alphabet letters or by other inventions like “race” Deacon Dom. We’re just human beings and from a biblical perspective, we are all instructed to obey the same Commandments. We can each struggle dufferently to keep the Commandments and Christ’s teachings. Some teachings are going to be harder for us than others but that doesn’t create special exemptions based upon our attractions or temptations.
More nonsense from the “Deacon” named Dom.
Cardinal McElroy is a leftist social justice warrior, Deacon. He does have that it in common with Pope Francis. I’m surprised (not really) that you didn’t mention that, like Francis, the good Cardinal has covered for molestors and had, and maybe still has, a great relationship with Ted McCarrick.
Deacon, would being pro-life include not repeating the childishly silly lies pro-aborts and the morally indifferent have been saying about pro-lifers?
Exactly what line of reasoning goes into creating the belief that being a parent or doctor or nurse or teacher or legislator or administrator or homemaker or cook or waiter or builder or truck driver or construction worker or anyone from any other background within the pro-life movement, would preclude having the human compassion you infer that pro-lifers do not have for anyone after they are born? Incidentally, pro-lifers are not only racially white as you also infer. And we also care about thousands of things.
What exactly have you done? Do you provide material aid for abortion turnarounds like we do, or do you just prefer to stereotype us and denigrate us while simultaneously lecturing us about learning “compassion.”
Deacon: Does caring for life also include caring for the victim of a depraved priest raping his victim in satanic rituals or brushing her aside as McElroy has done? Or does “mercy” include caring for and having mercy for the victims of a depraved serial rapist of nuns or protecting the rapist as Francis has done?
Is Jesus God incarnate? Is the Son of God the head of the Church? Although there are disconcerting events and actions in the physical Church, we cannot always discern the workings of the Trinity in this life or in the Church. Trust in God, trust in Christ, trust in the Holy Spirit. Let your faith be authenticate, your life holy from grace, your conscience clear, and serve and love others. May what is True and Good prevail in church life.
McElroy, Cupich, and Tobin have to be “elevated” by Francis if they are going to have any influence. Their brother bishops sure don’t seem inclined to give them any influential roles in the USCCB. They are like the teacher’s pet despised by the rest of the class.
The “elevation” of McElroy to the DC archdiocese will not elevate him; it will only degrade DC.
Trump will get the better of any match with McElroy.
After reading the article I thought, “What a whitewashed piece of journalism this is.” Then when I saw it was written by Hannah Brockhaus of CNA, I understood. CNA does not want Catholics to know how people like McElroy, Francis, and others cover up abuse. CNA never reports on seminarians who are drugged and sodomized like Mark Brooks was in San Diego, or Rachel Mastrogiacom whose ritual satanic abuse McElroy attempted to cover up.
Msgr., I’ve been saying for awhile now that what comes to us from CNA is utter trash. It’s a propaganda agent for Bergolioistas.
Have you been granted a declaration of nullity by a Diocesan Tribunal for your “marriage” to Leila, Gene and have you resumed presenting yourself as a Catholic Priest or do you prefer the title “Dad”?
Woke Doctorates be dammed!
At a web site where a fawning interview of the Cardinal occurred, where he went on and on preaching his pseudo-gospel of “inclusiveness,” I posed these comments.
It seems an incapacity to make rational distinctions is now the necessary criteria for becoming a cardinal in this pontificate. Oh, I forgot. The ability to not be inclusive towards the damaged victims of the savage sinful sexual crimes, ritual satanic abuse in one case, by priests that you, Cardinal covered up, that’s right, what you have systematically ignored. Why doesn’t “inclusiveness” seem to “include” the victims of grave sins??