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<h1>Article on how Pope Francis's comments in both the above mentioned (AP) interview as well as in his latest air-borne interview on his way back to Rome from Africa might confuse people<br></h1><div><br></div> <div>
<span>by <span><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/author/luizsergiosolimeo/" title="View all posts by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo" rel="author" target="_blank"><span>Luiz Sérgio Solimeo</span></a></span></span> <span>February 8, 2023</span></div><div><span><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764" target="_blank">https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764</a></span> </div>
<div><br></div>Pope Francis has inaugurated a new kind of magisterium—media
interviews. Amid relaxed conversations with journalists, he addresses
complex doctrinal topics that require precision and clarity.
<p><b>“Talismanic Words”</b></p>
<p>Journalists pick through his confusing expressions looking for
soundbites to turn into headlines for their media outlets and then
spread them worldwide. One could call these slogans “talismanic words,”
in the sense explained by Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in his famous
work, <i><a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2021/12/in-the-war-of-the-words-woke-goes-rogue/" target="_blank">Unperceived Ideological Transshipment and Dialogue</a></i>:
“[A talismanic word] is a word whose legitimate meaning is friendly
and, at times, even noble, but it is also a word with some elasticity.
When used tendentiously, it shines with a new radiance, fascinating the
patient and taking him much farther than he could have imagined.”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn1" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref1" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">1</span></a></p>
<p><b>“Who Am I to Judge?”</b></p>
<p>In 2013, the first year of his pontificate, during an interview with
journalists on the plane back to Rome from his visit to Brazil, Pope
Francis uttered the famous phrase, “Who am I to judge?”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn2" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref2" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">2</span></a> It was immediately turned into thunderous headlines. <br></p>
<p>This talismanic expression became famous. It characterizes the pope’s
teaching concerning sins against nature. Fr. James Martin, the
homosexual movement’s leading Jesuit promoter, says that Pope Francis’s
expression signaled “a dramatic shift in tone from previous popes” since
they usually employed a “condemnatory and accusatory language.” “I
think that was the beginning of the opening of the door in his
pontificate” to “LGBT people.”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn3" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref3" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">3</span></a></p>
<p><b>“Being Homosexual Is Not a Crime”</b></p>
<p>Almost ten years later, Pope Francis’s latest phrase on homosexuality
aroused the same excitement in the media and the homosexual movement.</p>
<p>In a lengthy January 24, 2023 interview with the Associated Press’s
Nicole Winfield, he declared that being homosexual is not a crime but a
sin. However, much of the media highlighted only the first part of the
statement—that homosexuality is not a crime.<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn4" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref4" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">4</span></a></p>
<p>The statement is made in a confusing context in which the homosexual
act’s sinful aspect seems to lack real importance. Let us look at the
transcript in Spanish, the language in which Pope <a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2021/02/let-pope-francis-speak-out/" target="_blank">Francis</a>
gave the interview. He states, “[W]e are all children of God, and God
wants us as we are and with the strength that each of us fights for our
dignity.”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn5" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref5" target="_blank"></a></p><p>The statement that we are all God’s children and, therefore, “God
wants us as we are” is highly ambiguous. It seems to imply that a
person’s moral state and the severely sinful state of those who engage
in homosexual acts do not matter to the Creator.</p>
<p>Now, as the <i>Catechism of the Council of Trent</i> explains, by
analogy, as Creator, God can be called the Father of every human being.
Nevertheless, only a person in the state of grace is truly an “adopted
son” of God.<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn6" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref6" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">6</span></a>
And Saint John is adamant: “In this, the children of God are manifest,
and the children of the devil. Whosoever is not just, is not of God” (1
John 3:10).</p>
<p>On the other hand, authentic human dignity comes from the practice of
virtue, not vice. Sin, which is an offense against God, does not
dignify man.</p>
<p>Then comes the statement that has been spread: “Being homosexual is
not a crime. It is not a crime. Yes, but it is a sin. Well, first, let
us distinguish sin from crime.” He added, “But the lack of charity with
one’s neighbor is also a sin. How are you doing in this regard?”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn7" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref7" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">7</span></a></p>
<p>Although Pope Francis says that homosexuality is a sin, he implies it
is a sin like any other, for example, “the lack of charity toward one’s
neighbor.” Moreover, in asking, “How are you doing in this regard?” he
implies that everyone sins in some way or another, so it is wrong to
single out homosexual acts. But since the practice of sodomy seriously
undermines the moral order, it was included among those “sins that cry
out to heaven for vengeance.” According to Scripture, these sins are
voluntary homicide (Gen. 4:10); sodomy (Gen. 19:13); oppression of
widows and orphans (Exod. 22:22ff.); and depriving workers of their just
wage (Deut. 24:17ff.; James 5:4).”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn8" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref8" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">8</span></a></p>
<p><b>Does Homosexuality Stem From the Human Condition?</b></p>
<p>A little later, he repeats: “And being homosexual is not a crime. It is a human condition.”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn9" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref9" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">9</span></a></p>
<p>While this phrase is unclear, Pope Francis seems to be saying that
being homosexual is part of the human condition and, therefore, cannot
be criminally or morally censurable.</p>
<p><b>Letter to Fr. James Martin</b></p>
<p>Among the pro-homosexuality media that celebrated the AP interview is <i>Outreach.Faith—a Catholic <a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2022/06/state-farms-program-to-distribute-lgbt-books-draws-fire-and-defeat/" target="_blank">LGBTQ</a></i> website founded and directed by Father Martin.<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn10" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref10" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">10</span></a></p><p>The notorious Jesuit was not satisfied with Pope Francis’s statement
that homosexuality “is not a crime” because it was followed by the
observation that it is “a sin.” He hastened to write the pope, asking
for clarification.</p>
<p><b>“Do You Think That Simply Being Gay Is a Sin?”</b></p>
<p>Father Martin asked the pope, “Do you think that simply being gay is a
sin?” In his handwritten reply, Pope Francis tries to justify himself
for not having been clear and precise: “In a televised interview, where
we spoke with natural and conversational language, it is understandable
that there would not be such precise.definitions.” In stating that
homosexuality is a sin, says Pope Francis, “I was simply referring to
Catholic moral teaching, which states that <i>every sexual act outside of marriage </i>is a sin. Obviously, <i>one must keep the circumstances in mind, which diminish or annul guilt.</i>”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn11" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref11" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">11</span></a></p>
<p><b>What Is Intrinsically Evil Will Always Be Sinful</b></p>
<p>Traditional Catholic morals have always sustained that an
intrinsically evil act never ceases to be sinful because of
circumstances. John Paul II affirms this in his encyclical <i>Veritatis splendor</i>:
“In teaching the existence of intrinsically evil acts, the Church
accepts the teaching of Sacred Scripture. The Apostle Paul emphatically
states: ‘Do not be deceived: neither the <a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2018/05/with-cardinal-dolans-approval-sacrileges-immorality-and-madness/" target="_blank">immoral</a>,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor thieves, nor
the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the
Kingdom of God’ (1 Cor. 6:9—10).”</p>
<p>The Polish pope continues: “If acts are intrinsically evil, a good
intention or particular circumstances can diminish their evil, but they
cannot remove it. <i>They remain ‘irremediably’ evil acts; </i>per se<i> and in themselves, they are not capable of being ordered to God and to the good of the person</i>. ‘As for acts which are themselves sins (<i>cum iam opera ipsa peccata sunt</i>), Saint Augustine writes, like theft, fornication, blasphemy, who would dare affirm that, by doing them for good motives (<i>causis bonis</i>), they would no longer be sins, or, what is even more absurd, that they would be sins that are justified?’”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn12" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref12" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">12</span></a></p>
<p><b>What About the Salvation of Souls?</b></p>
<p>Let us note that, in this and other interviews, Pope Francis does not
seem concerned with the Church’s goal proper—the salvation of souls. He
deals with everything—politics, economics, ecology—but does not
mention, when dealing with morals, the need for conversion and the
practice of virtue.</p>
<p>In this interview, he uses the word conversion only to refer to
African bishops who are supportive of laws criminalizing homosexual
practice; and his own conversion in the fight against sexual abuse
inside the Church. However, he does not say that people who engage in
homosexual acts should convert.</p>
<p><b>A Double Standard</b></p>
<p>In September 2016, four cardinals, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron
of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Walter Cardinal Brandmüller, former
president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, Joachim
Cardinal Meisner, former archbishop of Cologne, and Carlo Cardinal
Caffarra, former archbishop of Bologna, submitted a series of <i>Dubia</i> to Pope Francis on doctrinal points that are handled ambiguously in the apostolic exhortation <i>Amoris Laetitia.</i><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn13" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref13" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">13</span></a></p>
<p>Today, six years later, <a style="color:rgb(0,0,255)" href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2021/02/let-pope-francis-speak-out/" target="_blank">Pope Francis</a> has still not publicly answered these <i>Dubia </i>[<i>Doubts</i>] of the cardinals, two of whom, Meisner and Caffarra, have already died.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Pope Francis immediately answered Fr. J. Martin’s <i>dubia</i>
on whether homosexuality is a sin. The interview to the Associated
Press was on January 24, and Fr. Martin received the above-mentioned
handwritten, affectionate, and confusing answer to his <i>dubia</i> on the 27<sup>th</sup>.</p>
<p><b>The Law of God Is Immutable</b></p>
<p>Ambiguity and doctrinal confusion are not part of the Church’s
perennial magisterium. Her guide, the Holy Spirit, is a “Spirit of
truth” (John 16:13). Furthermore, as the First Vatican Council taught
when defining papal infallibility, “For, the Holy Spirit was not
promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they might
disclose new doctrine, but that by His help they might guard sacredly
the revelation transmitted through the apostles and the deposit of
faith, and might faithfully set it forth.”<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftn14" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftnref14" target="_blank"><span style="vertical-align:super;font-size:small">14</span></a></p>
<p><b>In Thick Doctrinal Fog, Let Us Invoke Mary</b></p>
<p>However thick the mists Divine Providence mysteriously allowed to
envelop Holy Mother Church, testing our faith in this terrible crisis,
let us not forget Our Lord’s words: “I am with you all days, even to the
consummation of the world” (Matt. 28:20).</p>
<p>In Fatima, Mary Most Holy promised, “Finally, my Immaculate Heart
will triumph.” May she grant us courage and fidelity to hold fast to the
Church’s perennial magisterium and not be led astray by Pope Francis’s
confusing statements.</p>
<hr width="33%" align="left">
<h5 style="color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:140%;margin:25px auto">Footnotes:</h5>
<p><a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref1" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn1" target="_blank">1.</a> Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Unperceived Ideological Transshipment and Dialogue, <a href="https://www.tfp.org/unperceived-ideological-transshipment-and-dialogue/#chp2" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.tfp.org/unperceived-ideological-transshipment-and-dialogue/#chp2</a>. <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref2" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn2" target="_blank">2.</a> Tracy Connor, “‘Who Am I to Judge?’: The Pope’s Most Powerful Phrase in 2013,” NBC News, Dec. 22, 2013, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/who-am-i-judge-popes-most-powerful-phrase-2013-flna2D11791260" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/who-am-i-judge-popes-most-powerful-phrase-2013-flna2D11791260</a>. <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref3" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn3" target="_blank">3.</a> “How Pope Francis Is Changing the Vatican’s Tone on LGBT people,” <a href="http://YouTube.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span>YouTube</span><span>.</span><span>com</span></a>, America–The Jesuit Review, accessed Feb. 3, 2023, //<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrslGK0kls4" rel="noopener" target="_blank">www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrslGK0kls4</a>. (4:36–38’) <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref4" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn4" target="_blank">4.</a> “Transcripción de la entrevista de AP con el papa Francisco,” Associated Press, Jan. 25, 2023, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/noticias-a5cf2c1d450064b588ab3f41d3bf6994" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://apnews.com/article/noticias-a5cf2c1d450064b588ab3f41d3bf6994</a>. (Our translation.) <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref5" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn5" target="_blank">5.</a> “Transcripción,” Associated Press, Jan. 25, 2023. <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref6" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn6" target="_blank">6.</a> See The Catechism of The Council of Trent (Rockford, Ill.: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1982), 20–21. <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref7" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn7" target="_blank">7.</a> “Transcripción.” <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref8" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn8" target="_blank">8.</a>
Dom Gregory Manise, O.S.B., s.v. “Sins That Cry to Heaven for
Vengeance,” in Dictionary of Moral Theology, comp. Francesco Cardinal
Roberti, ed. Pietro Palazzini, trans. Henry J. Yannone (Westminster,
Md.: Newman Press, 1962). <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref9" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn9" target="_blank">9.</a> “Transcripción.” <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref10" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn10" target="_blank">10.</a> J.D. Long-García, “‘Outreach’ Website Hopes to Inspire Online L.G.B.T. Community for Catholics,” America, May 2, 2022, <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/05/02/outreach-catholic-lgbt-242917" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/05/02/outreach-catholic-lgbt-242917</a>. <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref11" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn11" target="_blank">11.</a> “Pope Francis Clarifies Comments on Homosexuality: ‘One must consider the circumstances,’” Outreach.faith, Jan. 27, 2023, <a href="https://outreach.faith/2023/01/pope-francis-clarifies-comments-on-homosexuality-one-must-consider-the-circumstances/?_thumbnail_id=4545" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://outreach.faith/2023/01/pope-francis-clarifies-comments-on-homosexuality-one-must-consider-the-circumstances/?_thumbnail_id=4545</a>. (Our translation.) <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref12" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn12" target="_blank">12.</a> John Paul II, encyclical Veritatis splendor (Aug. 6, 1993), no. 81, <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor.html</a>. (Our emphasis.) <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref13" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn13" target="_blank">13.</a>
See Edward Pentin, “Full Text and Explanatory Notes of Cardinals’
Questions on ‘Amoris Laetitia’: The Full Documentation Relating to the
Cardinals’ Initiative, Entitled ‘Seeking Clarity: A Plea to Untie the
Knots in Amoris Laetitia.’” National Catholic Register, Nov. 14, 2016, <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/blog/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://www.ncregister.com/blog/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia</a>. <br>
<a href="https://www.returntoorder.org/2023/02/pope-francis-increases-confusion-on-the-homosexual-sin/?PKG=RTOE1764#_ftnref14" name="m_-4673724620489329395__ftn14" target="_blank">14.</a> Denz., no. 1836, <a href="http://patristica.net/denzinger/#n1800" rel="noopener" target="_blank">http://patristica.net/denzinger/#n1800</a>.</p>
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