Pope Benedict Dishes on Vatican’s ‘Powerful Gay Lobby’

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

(The Daily Beast) ROME—It’s a rare, and indeed, singularly unique opportunity to read what a pope really thinks of the job after it has finished. Pontificates generally end in funerals, not retirements. But in the case of Pope Benedict XVI, who spectacularly retired in 2013, we will soon get that rare glimpse of what it’s really like to be pope when his memoir, Benedict XVI: The Last Conversations, is published on September 9 in Italy and Germany...

Among what will be the most anticipated nuggets in the memoir are Benedict’s struggle with what he refers to as a “powerful gay lobby” of four or five key people who did all they could to influence key decision makers inside the Roman Curia, according to the paper. The existence of a gay lobby is not surprising since Francis admitted as much when he took the reigns of the Roman Catholic Church in March 2013. But what’s extraordinary is the admission by a pope how much power they truly had.

Benedict, who retired amid the Vatileaks scandal during which his butler was convicted of stealing papers from his desk, apparently writes in great detail how he struggled to “break up the group” but stops short of blaming them for his landmark decision to retire, which he says he did out of sheer exhaustion and his own admission that he was not such a good manager, or, as he puts it, lacked “resoluteness in governing.”

He denies long-held rumors that he was blackmailed and pressured to leave his post, and instead says he did it “freely.”

He also writes how surprised he was that he was elected pope in 2005 after John Paul II died. He describes the shock of finding out that high-ranking cardinals were holding a secret shadow conclave and had elected him before voting in the formal gathering in the Sistine Chapel. He also says he didn’t sleep for days and was incredibly anxious when he began his pontificate.

The retired pope will also shed light on just how difficult it was for him to combat the “filth that is in the church” and how many people tried to stop his attempts at reforms. All of that should provide a window into just how challenging it is for Pope Francis going forward... (continued)

Read More

Link:

• Pope Benedict Dishes on Vatican’s ‘Powerful Gay Lobby’ 

Related:

• In memoirs, ex Pope Benedict says Vatican 'gay lobby' tried to wield power: report

Catholic diocese ‘respects’ decision to host openly gay judge as St. Patrick’s Parade grand marshal

By Lisa Bourne

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut, December 11, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Another U.S. city has officially introduced open homosexuality into its St. Patrick’s Day parade. And again, the Catholic diocese is continuing to stand by the parade.

The committee for the Stamford, Connecticut, parade announced its choice of state Supreme Court Justice Andrew McDonald as its 2016 grand marshal November 22.

McDonald is openly gay, his biography on the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Website closing with the statement, “Justice McDonald and his husband, Charles, live in Stamford.”

The local Catholic diocese has indicated it has no issue with the move to have the openly homosexual judge lead the parade, according to the local news outlet the Stamford Advocate.

McDonald was at odds with the Catholic Church in Connecticut in 2009 when as a state senator he proposed controversial legislation along with another lawmaker to regulate the Church’s finances.

SB 1098 was specific to the Catholic Church, and would have removed parish priests and the bishop from their oversight positions, giving power to a lay board. The bill was ultimately tabled, but not before significant backlash for its apparent violation of the Fourteenth Amendment ban on discriminatory legislation.

“We are deeply concerned about statements made by elected officials suggesting that Connecticut's existing religious corporation statutes, including those applicable to the Roman Catholic Church, are unconstitutional and should be amended,” the Diocese of Bridgeport, under Bishop William Lori, said in a report from Catholic News Agency at the time. “These statements are misinformed.”

The spokesman for the Diocese of Bridgeport said current Bishop Frank Caggiano was not asked about the St. Patrick’s Day parade committee’s choice of McDonald as grand marshal, saying as well it would not dispute the decision and calling the St. Patrick’s celebration a day of inclusiveness.

“The diocese respects the decision of the committee,“ Brian Wallace said. “It’s a day of inclusiveness. It’s a day people drop their differences. We hope people have a good day and enjoy the parade.”

The diocese did not respond to LifeSiteNews' request for comment by press time.

Stamford St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee Chair Michael Feighan told the Stamford Advocate that McDonald, who aside from being a judge, has served on municipal boards and already been involved with the parade, met all the criteria for grand marshal role.

He is thought to be the first openly gay grand marshal in the U.S. selected to lead a St. Patrick’s Day parade, the report said.

In 2013 McDonald was confirmed as the first openly gay justice to the Connecticut Supreme Court, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

St. Patrick’s Day is the feast day honoring Ireland’s leading patron saint, and the annual Catholic observance holds substantial cultural significance for the Irish community, with parades and countless other festivities across the U.S. each year.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan upset Catholics earlier this year when he served as grand marshal for the 2015 New York City Saint Patrick’s Day Parade, after the parade committee allowed an openly homosexual activist group march in the parade with its identifying banner, breaking the event’s previous two-hundred-plus-year stance of only allowing Irish themed groups to participate in the parade honoring the Catholic saint.

The New York City parade committee’s agreement to allow the homosexual activist group after decades of pressure from gay activist groups was supposed to also mean a pro-life group would take part in the Catholic event, but no pro-life group has been allowed, and earlier this past fall the parade committee voted to allow a second homosexual group.

A Massachusetts Catholic school pulled out of its local St. Patrick’s Day parade this year after it learned a homosexual activist group would be allowed to march while openly identifying its homosexuality, its principal at the time citing Catholic Church teaching.

“Catholics are forbidden to sponsor or even participate in an event which openly promotes unnatural and immoral behavior,” Immaculate Heart of Mary School’s Brother Thomas Dalton said. “The Church will never accept nor condone same sex marriage and the homosexual lifestyle.”

Link:

• Catholic diocese ‘respects’ decision to host openly gay judge as St. Patrick’s Parade grand marshal

Pope, ending synod, excoriates bishops with 'closed hearts'

By Philip Pullella

(Reuters) Pope Francis, ending a contentious bishops' meeting on family issues, on Saturday excoriated immovable Church leaders who "bury their heads in the sand" and hide behind rigid doctrine while families suffer...

In his final address, the pope appeared to criticize ultra-conservatives, saying Church leaders should confront difficult issues "fearlessly, without burying our heads in the sand."

He said the synod had "laid bare the closed hearts which frequently hide even behind the Church's teachings or good intentions, in order to sit in the chair of Moses and judge, sometimes with superiority and superficiality, difficult cases and wounded families"...

The synod document did offer some hope for the full re-integration into the Church of some Catholics who divorce and remarry in civil ceremonies.

Under current Church doctrine they cannot receive communion unless they abstain from sex with their new partner, because their first marriage is still valid in the eyes of the Church and they are seen to be living in an adulterous state of sin.

They only way such Catholics can remarry is if they receive an annulment, a ruling that their first marriage never existed in the first place because of the lack of certain pre-requisites such as psychological maturity or free will.

The document spoke of a so-called "internal forum" in which a priest or a bishop may work with a Catholic who has divorced and remarried to decide jointly, privately and on a case-by-case basis if he or she can be fully re-integrated.

"In order for this happen, the necessary conditions of humility, discretion, love for the Church and her teachings must be guaranteed in a sincere search for God's will," the document said.
Tally sheets showed that the three articles on the divorced and re-married were the most fought-over, reaching the two-thirds majority needed to remain in the document by only a few votes each. One passed by only one vote... (continued)

Read More Here

• Pope, ending synod, excoriates bishops with 'closed hearts'

States could force Catholic priests to perform same-sex ‘marriages’ or lose legal status: Justice Scalia

By Fr. Mark Hodges

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 29, 2015, (LifeSiteNews.com) – If the Supreme Court rules that same-sex “marriage” is a constitutional right, one justice has said that the government could force clergy of all denominations to perform gay “weddings” or lose the ability to officiate any state-sanctioned marriage.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that will decide whether the Constitution forbids states from upholding marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Among the exchanges, Justice Antonin Scalia repeatedly noted that if the High Court finds same-sex "marriage" is a constitutional right, then priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams will be required to perform such ceremonies – regardless of their religious beliefs – or face state penalties.
Justice Scalia repeatedly suggested that once a constitutional right to marry by same-sex couples was enshrined by the court, a member of the clergy could not be given civil marriage powers by the state unless he agreed to perform any and all marriages that the nation legally recognizes.

"Every state allows ministers to marry people, and their marriages are effective under state law,” Scalia said. “That will not be the case if, indeed, we hold, as a constitutional matter, that the state must marry two men."

As it stands, most clergy serve a dual role, celebrating church nuptials but also signing legal documents allowing the state to legally recognize that marriage. But if they refuse to conduct same-sex rituals, government officials may strip clergy of their state legal standing, rendering their marriages legally invalid in the eyes of the state government.

He said he was reticent to give the power to compel someone to violate his conscience to the State. “I'm concerned about the wisdom of this court imposing through the Constitution a requirement of action which is unpalatable to many of our citizens for religious reasons," Scalia said. He noted that most religious denominations "are not likely to change their view about what marriage consists of."

Justice Scalia noted the key difference between state laws, which can make exceptions for religious beliefs, and finding a right to gay "marriage" in the Constitution, which would allow no exceptions.

"Were the states to [redefine marriage] by law, they could make exceptions to what is required for same-sex marriage, who has to honor it, and so forth. But once it's made a matter of constitutional law...is it conceivable that a minister who is authorized by the state to conduct marriage can decline to marry two men? Is it conceivable that that would be allowed?"

His question was rebuffed by some of the court's liberal justices, who pointed to the "free exercise of religion" clause in the Bill of Rights – but it was not answered.

Unsatisfied, Justice Scalia continued to explain that same-sex "marriage" bans in the states "are laws. They are not constitutional requirements. If you let the states [redefine marriage], you can make a [religious] exception. The state can say, 'Yes, two men can marry — but ministers who do not believe in same-sex marriage will still be authorized to conduct marriages on behalf of the state.' You can’t do that once it is a constitutional proscription."

A devout Roman Catholic, Scalia said that no religious exception can be allowed for a constitutional right. A minister "is not given the state’s power, unless he agrees to use that power in accordance with the Constitution. You can’t appoint people who will then go ahead and violate the Constitution.”

"I don't see how you could possibly allow that minister to say, 'I will only marry a man and a woman. I will not marry two men,'" Scalia said.

“I don't see any answer to that,” the justice said. “I really don't."

He also drew a subtle but clear attention to the fact that the ultimate impact would be to favor liberal denominations, like the Episcopal Church, over traditional ones like the Roman Catholic Church. "You could have ministers who conduct real marriages that are civilly enforceable at the National Cathedral, but not at St. Matthew's downtown, because that minister refuses to marry two men, and therefore, cannot be given the state power to make a real state marriage.”
  The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes told Fox News' Bret Baier that a ruling in favor of same-sex "marriage" would leave religious liberties vulnerable.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told Todd Starnes it’s now “open season on Americans who refuse to bow to the government’s redefinition of marriage.”

Many Christian leaders are concerned that if the Supreme Court finds same-sex "marriage" a constitutional right, they will be forced to disobey federal law – and, like the civil rights protesters of the 1960s, accept the legal consequences that follow.

Such a scenario is not new. In 2014, two Christian ministers who own an Idaho wedding chapel were told they had to either perform same-sex "weddings" or face a 180-day jail sentence and a $1,000 a day fine. The ministers sued and won, this time.

"The other side insisted this would never happen – that pastors would not have to perform same-sex marriages,” Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Jeremy Tedesco said. “The reality is it’s already happening.”

Link:

• States could force Catholic priests to perform same-sex ‘marriages’ or lose legal status: Justice Scalia 

Rick Santorum: I would not attend a gay wedding

Related:

• Marco Rubio: "I’d attend a gay wedding"

Cardinal Dolan leads NYC St. Patrick’s Parade as first-ever gay activist group joins

By Kirsten Andersen 

NEW YORK, March 17, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan led Manhattan’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on Tuesday as grand marshal, despite backlash from faithful Catholics unhappy with the organizers’ decision to allow an openly homosexual activist group to march in the event.

“I’m as radiant as the sun, so thanks be to God for the honor and the joy,” said Cardinal Dolan on Tuesday morning, as he led 250,000 marchers down Fifth Avenue – including a delegation from “Out @ NBC Universal,” a group of gay activists who work for NBC, the network that televises the parade.

Catholic commentator Michael Voris and his team from ChurchMilitant.TV were present at the parade and were able to question Dolan on his decision during a press scrum. “Your Eminence, do you have anything to say to the loyal Catholics who find what you’re doing here a great scandal to the faith?” Voris asked.

“No, come on in. We’d love to have you,” Dolan replied.

Voris reports that he and his cameraman were then removed from the press scrum, providing video of an official telling them to leave, and then calling police over to escort them out of the area.


Both the parade’s organizers and Cardinal Dolan drew criticism from faithful Catholics last year by approving Out@NBC Universal’s request to march in this year’s parade, under a banner that makes reference to their homosexuality.  The controversial decision prompted the Catholic League and at least one Catholic school to pull out of the parade, while nearly 5,000 people signed a petition urging Cardinal Dolan to withdraw from the event as a show of support for Catholic teaching forbidding homosexual behavior.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan responds to a question about his decision to serve as grand marshal at the St. Patrick's Day Parade. ChurchMilitant.tv

But the cardinal refused to back down, expressing support for the group’s inclusion.  “I have no trouble with the decision at all,” Cardinal Dolan said at a press conference announcing his appointment as grand marshal. “I think the decision is a wise one.”

Meanwhile, the parade’s organizers further upset rank-and-file Catholics by refusing to let a pro-life group march, saying they didn’t want to risk taking attention away from the gay group.

“That won’t be happening,” parade committee vice chairman John Lahey said of the pro-life group’s request to march. “What we want to do is keep 2015 focused on the gesture of goodwill we made towards the gay community with the inclusion of OUT@NBCUniversal.”

For the second year in a row, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to attend, saying that despite all the controversy, the organizers behind the celebration of Ireland’s patron saint haven’t done enough to make the event gay-friendly.

According to the mayor, while he saw the inclusion of a single homosexual group as “progress,” he won’t participate in the parade until it is “open to [homosexual groups] who would like to participate who don't happen to work for NBC."

"Having only one delegation associated with one company that allows members of the LGBT community is, obviously, a pretty narrow concession," said de Blasio, after marching in the gay-oriented “St. Pat's for All” parade in Queens on Sunday. "We'd like to see something that's more inclusive."

"I will not be marching [in Tuesday’s parade], but I look forward to progress in the future," de Blasio stated, at an unrelated press conference the following day. "I do think the first step was taken this year and I'm hopeful that soon there'll be others taken."

It seems likely that de Blasio’s hopes will be realized.  While at least one homosexual group was turned away from participating in this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, organizers were quick to note that it was simply a matter of the available slots having been filled prior to the group’s application to march, and said homosexual groups were “welcome” to apply for slots in 2016’s parade.

Meanwhile, a number of Catholics disillusioned by the organizers’ actions offered an alternative event on Tuesday at Church of the Holy Innocents, not far from the festivities on Fifth Avenue.

Proudly on display was the Children First Foundation’s “Choose Life” banner – the same one that was rejected by parade organizers.  The event, dubbed the “St. Patrick’s Day Lenten Pilgrimage,” included four Masses, the opportunity for Confession, and a prayer vigil for unborn children.

Link:

• Cardinal Dolan leads NYC St. Patrick’s Parade as first-ever gay activist group joins 

Texas AG: Same-sex marriage is void

 By Katey Psencik and Ashley Goudeau, KVUE

(KVUE) AUSTIN -- Hours after the Travis County clerk issued the state's first same-sex marriage license, Texas' attorney general said the marriage is void.

Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday the Texas Supreme Court granted his request to stay two court rulings declaring Texas' ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

"The Court's action upholds our state constitution and stays these rulings by activist judges in Travis County," Paxton said in a statement. "The same-sex marriage license issued by the Travis County Clerk is void, just as any license issued in violation of state law would be. I will continue to defend the will of the people of Texas, who have defined marriage as between one man and one woman, against any judicial activism or overreach."

According to the Travis County Clerk's office, Judge David Wahlberg signed a state court order from the 167th District Court to Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir on Thursday, commanding Debeauvoir to "cease and desist relying on the unconstitutional Texas prohibitions against same-sex marriage as a basis for not issuing a marriage license specifically to Plaintiffs Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant," due to the fact that Goodfriend has ovarian cancer... (continued)

Read More at KVUE

Link:

• Texas AG: Same-sex marriage is void

Scottish monk arrested for distributing leaflets promoting sexual morality

By Thaddeus Baklinski

(LifeSiteNews.com) A Scottish monk has been arrested for distributing a series of leaflets in the Cambridgeshire area critical of homosexuality, fornication, contraception, euthanasia, abortion, and divorce.

Brother Damon Jonah Kelly, head of the Glasgow based charity the Black Hermits, was arrested by Cambridgeshire Police on December 8 on suspicion of a Section 5 (religious/racial) public order offence after he wrote a letter to the homosexual news publication, Pink News, claiming responsibility for the distribution of leaflets in the city of Ely, as well as in Cambridge, King’s Lynn and several other Cambridgeshire towns and cities.

Initially police declined to take any action following a number of complaints about the leaflets, saying that neither the distribution of the leaflets nor the messages they contain were a crime, and in fact protected by free speech laws.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police said in a statement to Ely News, "Leaflets of a homophobic nature were distributed in Cambridge earlier this year. Additionally, similar material has been distributed in other areas of the county and indeed, the country.”

"While the material being distributed earlier this week will in many cases offend, irritate, shock or disturb, the content, context and actions of the male concerned fall short of any criminality at this time,” the spokeswoman added.

However, once the source of the leaflets identified himself, the police arrested him. They then released him on bail with a promise to appear on January 20.

The leaflets in question have titles such as "The Works of Darkness," "Homosexuality," and "Christmas, Christ and AntiChrist."

"Homosexuality" states that "God created man and woman for their mutual compatibility and for the procreation of children," and that, "all sexual activity outside of matrimonial union of one man and one woman is sin, and therefore immoral."

Warning that "through the sin of lust the Devil tempts man to sexual impurity, excess and perversion," the leaflet states that homosexuality is in reality a mental illness, but has become a cult that belongs to the culture of death.

“Homosexuality, as well as being a sin and a vice, is essentially a neurosis, a pathological condition; the result of several factors including childhood experiences. It is a dangerous temptation rather than a healthy orientation,” it reads.

“If the practice of homosexuality is acceptable, then in time any form of sexual deviation, perversion and experimentation will be acceptable, including the progressive lowering of the age of consent, taking it below the age of puberty and thus legalizing paedophilia. A common form of homosexuality is pederasty."

The leaflet goes on to say, “The condition of homosexuality can be treated and healed, as all distorted sexuality can be healed, and as many cases in recent years have proved," adding that homosexual people should not be persecuted but that homosexual inclinations should “not be encouraged."

“They need healing, not approval,” the leaflet says.

"The Works of Darkness" leaflet states that, "The deliberate killing of the baby in the womb is infanticide, is homicide, and those who perpetrate such an act are guilty of murder," and that, "Divorce wreaks havoc in society and is part and parcel of the plague of the 'one-parent family' which is a great evil."

It states that, "Homosexuality is not inborn, it is a development disorder, a traumatized condition arising out of a dysfunctional family, or it is a lifestyle choice. It is utterly opposed to the law of God and to nature, and should in no way be condoned or promoted."

This leaflet also comments on fornication, contraception, assisted fertilization, pornography, transgenderism, euthanasia, and atheism as serious societal problems.

"Christmas, Christ and AntiChrist," which was delivered in Cambridge last week, states that, “Christmas is the invasion by God into the world He created out of pure love; which through man’s evil has become a polluted landscape of de-humanized people, debasing themselves with their false gods and fetishes."

In his letter to Pink News, Brother Damon claims to have been arrested on nine occasions for leafleting, and despite this has brought his 2014 campaign to a “satisfactory conclusion.”

He closed the letter saying, "I wouldn’t be a good monk if I didn’t exhort you to repentance and conversion to Christ."

Link:

• Scottish monk arrested for distributing leaflets promoting sexual morality 

Pope Benedict’s private secretary speaks on Synod, divorce, same-sex relations

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, left, waits for Pope Francis, second from right, at the beatification of Pope Paul VI and a mass for the closing of a two-week synod on family issues. (Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)

By John-Henry Westen

(LifeSiteNews) Pope Benedict’s private secretary has given a surprise interview on some of the hot-button issues at the Vatican’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family, advancing views aligned with those expressed by Pope Benedict during his time as cardinal and pope.

In the interview published in the print edition of Chi magazine last week, Archbishop Georg Gänswein said, "The Church has always declared, based on the Scriptures and tradition, that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”  The acts, he said, “are contrary to natural law, because they prevent the gift of life, the purpose of the sexual act.”

Gänswein went on to acknowledge that for people experiencing same-sex attraction the inclination can be a trial. “These people,” he said, “are called to live the will of God in their life and if they are Christians, to unite their sacrifice to the cross of the Lord, with the difficulties they meet because of their condition.”

The remarks echo the language of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was published in 1992, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger headed the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). They also bear marked similarity to the language of the 1986 Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, published by the CDF and signed by Cardinal Ratzinger.

“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,’” says the Catechism. “They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life.”

In the 1986 letter on the pastoral care of homosexuals, Cardinal Ratzinger had written, “What, then, are homosexual persons to do who seek to follow the Lord? Fundamentally, they are called to enact the will of God in their life by joining whatever sufferings and difficulties they experience in virtue of their condition to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross.”

While Archbishop Gänswein did not directly address Cardinal Walter Kasper’s much-discussed proposal to allow divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion in some circumstances, he left a clear impression that he opposed it. Even if a married couple separates, he said, "starting a new union contradicts what the Lord has indicated."

When asked directly if Catholics who have been divorced and subsequently entered a second marriage should be permitted to receive Holy Communion, Archbishop Ganswein said, "This is a very delicate question. According to Catholic doctrine, the sacrament of marriage is indissoluble, just like God's love for man.”

"The Church doesn't close Her eyes  to the difficulties of the Faithful who live in delicate and thorny situations," Ganswein added. "Nevertheless, the Church must offer sincere answers which directs, not towards the spirit of the times, but to the Gospel, to the word of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.
"The evangelical message takes much effort but it is worthwhile to live it," he said. "God welcomes, forgives, this is true, but it  is also true He asks for conversion."

Vatican watchers told LifeSiteNews this would not be the first time that Pope Emeritus Benedict's private secretary has hinted at Benedict's own thoughts. Most notably, in an interview on German television in March of this year, Archbishop Ganswein revealed that Pope Benedict had written a 4-page critique of Pope Francis’ controversial interview with a Jesuit magazine wherein the pope had said the Church, “cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods.”

The release of the interview with Archbishop Georg Gänswein came on the heels of the surprise publication of an interview with Pope Francis, which was unknown to the Vatican press office prior to its release, by the Argentine newspaper La Nacion on the opening day of the Synod.

In the interview, published October 5, Pope Francis was asked about the cardinals who have criticized Cardinal Kasper’s proposal to allow Communion for divorced-and-remarried Catholics. In response, he indicated that he is not in agreement with the “very conservative” bishops, but said he still enjoys “debating” them as long as they are “intellectually well-formed.”

The pope also said that the Church must not “stigmatize” and “impugn” those who are living together in what the Church calls “irregular” situations outside of marriage.

“We have to approach social conflicts, new and old, and try to give a hand of comfort, not to stigmatize and not to just impugn,” Pope Francis said.

“So many young people prefer to live together without marrying,” he added. “What should the Church do? Expel them from its breast? Or, instead, approach them, embrace them and try to bring them the word of God? I’m with the latter position.”

Link:

• Pope Benedict’s private secretary speaks on Synod, divorce, same-sex relations 

Michael Voris Daily Rome Report 10-18 - Video

Link:

• Michael Voris Daily Rome Report 10-18

Related:

• Apostolic Breakfast Table
• Pope Francis speech at the conclusion of the Synod
• Catholic Bishops Scrap Welcome To Gays
• BBC: Catholic synod: Pope Francis setback on gay policy
• Full text: Updated mid-term report on family synod
• Cardinal Burke to CWR: confirms transfer, praises pushback, addresses controversy over remarks by Cardinal Kasper
• Interview With Cardinal Raymond Burke: Full Transcript
• Conservative Cardinal Who Clashed With Pope Francis Confirms He Has Been Ousted
• ¡Hagan lío! Synod Bishops revolt against leadership and get their way – UPDATE!
• Pope Francis revealing his take on Synod controversies in his private homilies?
• Document-gate
• DAILY ROME REPORT
• Statement on Cardinal Kasper Interview
• Reports of Circuli Minores now available on Vatican website
• What’s the liberals next move?
• The Robber Synod!
• ¡Hagan lío! Synod Bishops revolt against leadership and get their way – UPDATE!
• Burke Blasts Back
• Blindsided: Press received document before synod fathers
• Did no one know that when the MSM got hold of the ‘Relatio’, people were going to go bananas?
• Revolution on the Way - Synod Coverage
• “The truly bizarre document that the Vatican released Monday”
• Cardinal Burke says statement from Pope Francis defending Catholic teaching is ‘long overdue’
• Cardinal Burke: Synod's mid-term report "lacks a solid foundation in the Sacred Scriptures and the Magisterium"
• Confused, Contradictory Chaos in Rome
• Magister: Pitched Battle on a Mad Monday at the Synod, Our conclusion: Bruno Forte made up homosexuality paragraphs by himself
• Press Grill Vatican on Divorce, Remarriage, and Homosexuality 
• VIDEO: Card. Burke’s clear, articulate, blunt answers about divorce, remarriage, Card. Kasper

Interview With Cardinal Raymond Burke: Full Transcript

By Ellie Hall & J. Lester Feder

BuzzFeed News reporter J. Lester Feder spoke with Cardinal Raymond Burke Friday morning via Skype to discuss the Extraordinary Synod on the Family and address rumors that he was being removed as the head of the Vatican’s highest court of canon law.

Former Archbishop of St. Louis cardinal Raymond Leo Burke attends Palm Sunday Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Square on April 13, 2014 in Vatican City, Vatican. Getty Images / Franco Origlia

Cardinal Burke: Hello, this is Cardinal Burke.

BuzzFeed News: Apologies, it seems we got disconnected. I was just asking if it’s okay if I record our conversation.

CB: Yes, it’s fine. That’s fine.

BFN: I know you don’t have a lot of time, so why don’t we just dive in. I’ve seen your comments suggesting that [the Extraordinary Synod on the Family] was being manipulated. Can you say a little bit more about that, and who is doing the manipulating?

CB: Since the presentation of Cardinal Kasper in February to the extraordinary consistory of cardinals, there’s been a consistent repetition of [Kasper’s] position that is trying to weaken the church’s teaching and practice with regard to the indissolubility of marriage. This has just been consistent, casting the synod — which was to be on the family, directed in a positive way on family life — suggesting that the main purpose of the synod would be to permit those who are in irregular unions to receive the sacraments of penance and holy communion, which is not possible. If someone is bound to a prior marriage which has not been declared null, and is living as husband or wife with someone else. That’s a public state of sin and therefore the person cannot receive holy communion or go to the sacrament of penance until the matter is resolved.

But that’s been — all along this keeps coming back, and I see more clearly than ever that that’s how the synod is. And certainly the media has picked up on this — very much so.

BFN: To the question of how that’s being done, presumably the pope was the one who asked Cardinal Kasper to frame the synod. Are you saying that [the pope] is the one who is manipulating these proceedings?

CB: The pope has never said openly what his position is on the matter and people conjecture that because of the fact that he asked Cardinal Kasper — who was well known to have these views for many, many years — to speak to the cardinals and has permitted Cardinal Kasper to publish his presentation in five different languages and to travel around advancing his position on the matter, and then even recently to publicly claim that he’s speaking for the pope and there’s no correction of this.
I can’t speak for the pope and I can’t say what his position is on this, but the lack of clarity about the matter has certainly done a lot of harm.

BFN: Would it be inappropriate for the pope to do that? To structure the conversation in such a way that it is consistent with his thinking?

CB: According to my understanding of the church’s teaching and discipline, no it wouldn’t be correct.

BFN: I did a story a while back reporting on a conversation that sources relayed to me between an LGBT activist and Cardinal Müller. In that conversation, the activist apparently asked Müller about the possibility of the church possibly accepting some forms of civil unions, based on some of the comments that the pope had made and some of the positions he was understood to have taken while he was the president of the bishops conference of Argentina. Müller reportedly responded that [that decision] wasn’t up to the pope, it was up to “us,” referring to the curia. In that thinking about how these kinds of church teachings are made, can you explain to an outsider what the relationship is between this kind of conversation and the pope’s personal thinking?

 Former archbishop of St. Louis cardinal Raymond Burke leaves the Synod Hall at the end of a session of the Synod on the themes of family on October 13, 2014 in Vatican City, Vatican. Getty Images / Franco Origlia

CB: Well I suppose the simplest way to put it is that all of us who serve the church are at the service of the truth: the truth that Christ teaches us in the church. And the pope more than anyone else, as the pastor of the universal church, is bound to serve the truth. And so the cardinal is quite correct that the pope is not free to change the church’s teachings with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the insolubility of marriage or any other truth of the faith. On the contrary, his work is to teach these truths and to insist on the discipline which reflects the truths in practice.

BFN: It sounds like there’s a tension, what we’re seeing play out in this [synod]. It sounds like you’re saying there are some people who deliberately want to change teaching. Like the people who are supportive of some of the positions that were articulated in the Relatio are saying that they’re trying to balance the pastoral need to find space for people who are living outside what the church teaches is the appropriate lifestyle, to find a way pastorally to incorporate them into the community and to bring them more in line.

You’ve used very strong words about homosexuality; in a recent interview you say again that homosexual acts are always wrong and evil. Is there any middle ground, any way to make space for LGBT people inside the church while also adhering to church teaching?

CB: Well the church doesn’t exclude anyone who’s of good will, even if the person is suffering from same-sex attraction or even acting on that attraction. But at the same time out of her love for the person who’s involved in sinful acts, she calls the person to conversion, in a loving way, but obviously, like a father or mother in a family, in a firm way for the person’s own good.

There never can be in the Catholic Church a difference between doctrine and practice. In other words, you can’t have a doctrine that teaches one thing and a practice which does something differently. If people don’t accept the church’s teaching on these matters than they’re not thinking with the church and they need to examine themselves on that and correct their thinking or leave the church if they absolutely can’t accept what the church teaches. They’re certainly not free to change the teaching of the church to suit their own ideas.

BFN: But as I read the Relatio — and again I’m reading this as a layperson — it seems like what they’re saying is [trying to establish] a welcoming tone. While not changing the teaching, they’re also trying to not make the primary point of contact be a fight over these lifestyle choices. While holding up that the ideal remains matrimony, they’re not going to be pushed out and harassed by virtue of not being in that arrangement.

CB: The point is that for the church, moral teaching is never a matter of ideals. They’re understood to be real commands that we’re meant to put into practice. All of us are sinners and we have to undergo a daily conversion to live according to the moral truth, but it remains for us always compelling. It’s not just an ideal that we hold out there, that, “It would be nice if it were this way, but I can’t do it.” No, we’re called to conform ourselves to those truths.

That’s the difficulty with the Relatio, which is not well expressed, and does not have a good foundation neither in the sacred scriptures nor in the church’s perennial teachings, and also uses language which can be very confusing.

One of the confusions is that it confuses the person with the sinful acts. In other words, it tries to say that if the church teaches that these acts are sinful that somehow they are turning on the people and driving them away from the church. Well, if the individuals involved are sincere and want to live the truth of moral law, the church is always ready to help. Even if someone sins repeatedly, the church always stands ready to help them begin again. But the truth of the moral law remains and it is compelling. It’s for now, it’s for me, it’s not something out there, some ideal out there that would be nice to realize but it doesn’t compel me.

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke leads a Holy Mass in the chapel of the Vatican Governorate to mark the opening of the Judicial Year of the Tribunal of Vatican City at the Vatican, January 11, 2014. REUTERS / STEFANO RELLANDINI

BFN: I should ask you about the reports that you’re being removed from the Signatura. What message is that sending? Do you think you are being removed in part because of how outspoken you have been on these issues?

Cardinal Burke: The difficulty — I know about all the reports, obviously. I’ve not received an official transfer yet. Obviously, these matters depend on official acts. I mean, I can be told that i’m going to be transferred to a new position but until I have a letter of transfer in my hand it’s difficult for me to speak about it. I’m not free to comment on why I think this may be going to happen.
BFN: Have you been told that you will be transferred?

CB: Yes.

BFN: You’re obviously a very well respected person. That must be disappointing.

CB: Well, I have to say, the area in which I work is an area for which I’m prepared and I’ve tried to give very good service. I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it. On the other hand, in the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given. And so I trust that by accepting this assignment, I trust that God will bless me, and that’s what’s in the end most important. And even though I would have liked to have continued to work in the Apostolic Signatura, I’ll give myself to whatever is the new work that I’m assigned to…

BFN: And that is as the chancellor to the order of Malta, is that right?

CB: It’s called the patron of the sovereign military order of Malta, that’s right.

BFN: So where are we now? As I understand it, the final draft of the Relatio is expected later today and it will be voted on tomorrow, is that right?

CB: It’s scheduled to be read to us tomorrow morning and then there’s to be discussion and the final vote is tomorrow afternoon.

BFN: I’m curious about the revisions that happened yesterday in the English version of the [Relatio] and none of the others. I don’t know if you can shed any light on that…

CB: I only know the revisions that were suggested by the small group to which I belonged, I haven’t seen the other ones, they were all delivered yesterday and were studied yesterday afternoon and today for the revision of the text. From the reports which were published, the summary reports, I believe that there was a rather thorough revision.

BFN: On this final stretch, you have very well respected doctrinal experts like Cardinal Wuerl on [the Relatio] writing committee. Do you have confidence in them going forward?

CB: I trust that they will produce a worthy document. I must say I was shocked by what I heard on Monday morning, which was presented by a very reputable cardinal, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Budapest. So you can imagine I’m a little shaken by that, my trust is a little bit shaken, but I am hoping that we won’t have a repeat of that.

BFN: All right, sir, I very much appreciate you making the time, I know you haven’t spoken with a lot of secular outlets, so I am really honored that you’d be willing to do that for us.

CB: You’re welcome. Goodbye, and God bless you.

Link:

• Interview With Cardinal Raymond Burke: The Full Transcript

Related:

• Conservative Cardinal Who Clashed With Pope Francis Confirms He Has Been Ousted
• ¡Hagan lío! Synod Bishops revolt against leadership and get their way – UPDATE!
• Pope Francis revealing his take on Synod controversies in his private homilies?
• Document-gate
• DAILY ROME REPORT
• Statement on Cardinal Kasper Interview
• Reports of Circuli Minores now available on Vatican website
• What’s the liberals next move?
• The Robber Synod!
• ¡Hagan lío! Synod Bishops revolt against leadership and get their way – UPDATE!
• Burke Blasts Back
• Blindsided: Press received document before synod fathers
• Did no one know that when the MSM got hold of the ‘Relatio’, people were going to go bananas?
• Revolution on the Way - Synod Coverage
• “The truly bizarre document that the Vatican released Monday”
• Cardinal Burke says statement from Pope Francis defending Catholic teaching is ‘long overdue’
• Cardinal Burke: Synod's mid-term report "lacks a solid foundation in the Sacred Scriptures and the Magisterium"
• Confused, Contradictory Chaos in Rome
• Magister: Pitched Battle on a Mad Monday at the Synod, Our conclusion: Bruno Forte made up homosexuality paragraphs by himself
• Press Grill Vatican on Divorce, Remarriage, and Homosexuality 
• VIDEO: Card. Burke’s clear, articulate, blunt answers about divorce, remarriage, Card. Kasper

Burke: Synod designed to “weaken the church’s teaching and practice” with apparent blessing of Pope Francis

Video: Michael Voris Discusses the Breaking News

Update:  Interview With Cardinal Raymond Burke: Full Transcript

By J. Lester Feder

(BuzzFeed) A top cardinal told BuzzFeed News on Friday that the worldwide meeting of church leaders coming to a close in Rome seemed to have been designed to “weaken the church’s teaching and practice” with the apparent blessing of Pope Francis.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American who heads the Vatican’s highest court of canon law, made the remarks in a phone interview from the Vatican, where a two-week Extraordinary Synod on the Family will conclude this weekend. An interim report of the discussions released on Monday, called the Relatio, produced a widespread backlash among conservative bishops who said it suggested a radical change to the church’s teaching on questions like divorce and homosexuality, and Burke has been among the most publicly critical of the bishops picked by Pope Francis to lead the discussion.
If Pope Francis had selected certain cardinals to steer the meeting to advance his personal views on matters like divorce and the treatment of LGBT people, Burke said, he would not be observing his mandate as the leader of the Catholic Church.

“According to my understanding of the church’s teaching and discipline, no, it wouldn’t be correct,” Burke said, saying the pope had “done a lot of harm” by not stating “openly what his position is.” Burke said the Pope had given the impression that he endorses some of the most controversial parts of the Relatio, especially on questions of divorce, because of a German cardinal who gave an important speech suggesting a path to allowing people who had divorced and remarried to receive communion, Cardinal Walter Kasper, to open the synod’s discussion.

“The pope, more than anyone else as the pastor of the universal church, is bound to serve the truth,” Burke said. “The pope is not free to change the church’s teachings with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the insolubility of marriage or any other doctrine of the faith.”

Burke has publicly clashed with the pope since Francis took office in 2013, and he has come to represent the sidelining of culture warriors elevated by Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict and as the top doctrinal official under Pope John Paul II. Burke, who caused controversy while bishop of St. Louis by saying Catholics who voted for politicians supportive of abortion rights should not receive communion, went on Catholic television in 2013 to rebut remarks Pope Francis made to an interviewer that the church had become “obsessed” with abortion and sexuality to the exclusion of other issues, saying, “We can never talk enough about that as long as in our society innocent and defenseless human life is being attacked in the most savage way,” Burke said. While Francis famously responded to a question about homosexuality in 2013 by asking, “Who am I to judge?” Burke described homosexual “acts” as “always and everywhere wrong [and] evil” during an interview last week.

In the interview with BuzzFeed News, Burke confirmed publicly for the first time the rumors that he had been told Francis intended to demote him from the church’s chief guardian of canon law to a minor post as patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

“I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it,” Burke said, explaining that he hadn’t yet received a formal notice of transfer. “On the other hand, in the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given. And so I trust, by accepting this assignment, I trust that God will bless me, and that’s what’s in the end most important.”

When the pope first took office, his pivot away from an emphasis on questions of sexuality were more a matter of personal tone rather than changes in church policy or personnel. There were rumors that he was trying to oust the man chosen by Pope Benedict to head the church’s office responsible for doctrine, Gerhard Müller, but last winter he instead elevated him from archbishop to cardinal. When word that Burke was on his way out began circulating last month, it signaled that Francis would take major steps to reshape the church. It coincided with the selection of a new archbishop of Chicago, Blase Cupich, whom Catholic progressives celebrated for positions like breaking with the American church hierarchy when it withheld its support for President Obama’s health reform law over questions of abortion and contraception.

Internal discontent among conservatives inside church leadership began to simmer over in the weeks leading up to the synod. Just before it began, Burke, Müller, and other senior cardinals published a book in several languages attacking the ideas laid out by Cardinal Walter Kasper on allowing those who had divorced and remarried to receive communion in a speech heartily praised by Pope Francis. It broke into open revolt at the midpoint of the synod, following publication of a document presented as a summary of discussions but that conservatives said misrepresented the debate by including passages on “welcoming homosexual persons” and discussing some of Kasper’s proposal on divorce. The backlash appeared to have been especially strong from the English-speaking world, which includes a large number of African and American bishops; in an apparent attempt to mollify anglophone conservatives, the Vatican released a new translation of the report that changed the phrase “welcoming homosexual persons” to “providing for homosexual persons” and made other small changes, while leaving the versions in all other languages unchanged.

The report is now being revised with feedback from small-group discussions held this week, and a final version is scheduled to be voted on on Saturday. Burke said he hoped that the committee writing the new report will produce a “worthy document,” but said his “trust is a little bit shaken” by the language in the interim draft he said lacks “a good foundation either in the sacred scriptures or in the church’s perennial teachings.”

But there seems to be little middle ground between Pope Francis’ worldview and Burke’s. Francis was president of the Argentinian bishops conference when that country passed a marriage equality bill in 2010 and reportedly tried to convince his colleagues to support a civil union proposal instead.

He lost the internal battle and gave voice to the hard-line consensus that the law was “sent by the devil.” The fight over the bill left the church appearing out of step with the beliefs of many in Argentina, a country where 76% identify as Catholic but only 38.2% went to church in 2005, per the most recent data available from the Association of Religious Data Archives. While Francis has shown no sign he supports overhauling the church’s teachings that homosexuality is sinful, he seems to have taken from this experience a desire to downplay conflicts over sexuality in order to broaden the church’s message.

But, Burke said, the church must always call a “person who’s involved in sinful acts … to conversion in a loving way, but obviously, like a father or mother in a family, in a firm way for the person’s own good.” There cannot be “a difference between doctrine and practice” on questions like homosexuality or anything else, Burke said.

“The church doesn’t exclude anyone who’s of goodwill even if the person is suffering from same-sex attraction or even acting on that attraction,” said Burke. “If people don’t accept the church’s teaching on these matters then they’re not thinking with the church and they need to examine themselves on that and correct their thinking or leave the church if they absolutely can’t accept. They’re certainly not free to change the teaching of the church to suit their own ideas.”

At the request of several readers, BuzzFeed News has printed a transcript of the section of the interview wherein Cardinal Burke talks about leaving the Signatura.

BuzzFeed News: I should ask you about the reports that you’re being removed from the Signatura. What message is that sending? Do you think you are being removed in part because of how outspoken you have been on these issues?

Cardinal Burke: The difficulty — I know about all the reports, obviously. I’ve not received an official transfer yet. Obviously, these matters depend on official acts. I mean, I can be told that I’m going to be transferred to a new position but until I have a letter of transfer in my hand it’s difficult for me to speak about it. I’m not free to comment on why I think this may be going to happen.

BFN: Have you been told that you will be transferred?

CB: Yes.

BFN: You’re obviously a very well-respected person. That must be disappointing.

CB: Well, I have to say, the area in which I work is an area for which I’m prepared and I’ve tried to give very good service. I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it.

On the other hand, in the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given. And so I trust that by accepting this assignment, I trust that God will bless me, and that’s what’s in the end most important. And even though I would have liked to have continued to work in the Apostolic Signatura, I’ll give myself to whatever is the new work that I’m assigned to…

BFN: And that is as the chancellor to the Order of Malta, is that right?
CB: It’s called the patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, that’s right.

update

Cardinal Raymond Burke is being removed from the position as the chief of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. An earlier version of this post mischaracterized that position in one instance.

Link:

• Conservative Cardinal Who Clashed With Pope Francis Confirms He Has Been Ousted

Update:  Interview With Cardinal Raymond Burke: Full Transcript

Related:

• ¡Hagan lío! Synod Bishops revolt against leadership and get their way – UPDATE!
• Pope Francis revealing his take on Synod controversies in his private homilies?
• Document-gate
• DAILY ROME REPORT
• Statement on Cardinal Kasper Interview
• Reports of Circuli Minores now available on Vatican website
• What’s the liberals next move?
• The Robber Synod!
• ¡Hagan lío! Synod Bishops revolt against leadership and get their way – UPDATE!
• Burke Blasts Back
• Blindsided: Press received document before synod fathers
• Did no one know that when the MSM got hold of the ‘Relatio’, people were going to go bananas?
• Revolution on the Way - Synod Coverage
• “The truly bizarre document that the Vatican released Monday”
• Cardinal Burke says statement from Pope Francis defending Catholic teaching is ‘long overdue’
• Cardinal Burke: Synod's mid-term report "lacks a solid foundation in the Sacred Scriptures and the Magisterium"
• Confused, Contradictory Chaos in Rome
• Magister: Pitched Battle on a Mad Monday at the Synod, Our conclusion: Bruno Forte made up homosexuality paragraphs by himself
• Press Grill Vatican on Divorce, Remarriage, and Homosexuality 
• VIDEO: Card. Burke’s clear, articulate, blunt answers about divorce, remarriage, Card. Kasper

Confused, Contradictory Chaos in Rome

Related:

• Cardinal Burke says statement from Pope Francis defending Catholic teaching is ‘long overdue’
• Press Grill Vatican on Divorce, Remarriage, and Homosexuality
• Magister: Pitched Battle on a Mad Monday at the Synod, Our conclusion: Bruno Forte made up homosexuality paragraphs by himself
• Press Grill Vatican on Divorce, Remarriage, and Homosexuality 
• VIDEO: Card. Burke’s clear, articulate, blunt answers about divorce, remarriage, Card. Kasper

Press Grill Vatican on Divorce, Remarriage, and Homosexuality

By Austin Ruse

(Breitbart) VATICAN CITY, Vatican-- Today, the Vatican released the controversial compilation document that will guide the Synod of Bishops next year. The document was put together by a committee and was intended as a distillation of the speeches given by Bishops and laymen last week.

At the press conference today no other section of the document received more questions for three Cardinals and an Archbishop than the section called “Welcoming Homosexuals.”

The section begins by asserting, “Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community; are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing them a fraternal space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine of the family and matrimony?”

The document goes on, “The question of homosexuality leads to a serious reflection on how to elaborate realistic paths of affective growth and human and evangelical maturity integrating the sexual dimension…”

The opening question of the packed press conference was from noted Rome-based journalist Sandro Magister who asked what the term “sexual dimension” meant. He wanted to know if it referred to the orientation of same-sex desire or sexual relations between those of the same sex.

Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary and who is the head communicator for the Synod said the term came about as a result of consultation during the previous week and then started talking about education in general. Magister and many others in the room were left obviously confused since Erdo didn’t’ come close to answering the question.

One questioner pointed out that this is the first time the concept of homosexuality has occurred in a Synod document and wondered if homosexual couples should be given a place at next year’s Synod. Cardinal Antony Tagle of Manila, described by one seasoned Vatican observer as friendly to liberation theology, started talking about the “spirit of Vatican II” and “dialoging with the world.” He also did not answer the question.

Michael Voris, from the conservative Church Militant TV in Michigan, asked a pointed question about whether Synod fathers were proposing that the “gifts and qualities” of homosexuals to the Church flow from their homosexuality. Archbishop Bruno Forte from the diocese of Chieti and Vasto in Italy joked, “It is not easy to answer such an ‘ontological discussions’ but that we must respect the dignity of all human persons quite separate from their sexual orientation.”

The other controversial topic that received great attention today was on the Church’s attitude toward divorced and civilly remarried Catholics. The Church teaches that marriage is forever and that remarriage after divorce are not allowed unless the Church agrees that the first marriage was invalid. The new document suggests this Church teaching could change and allow for such persons to receive communion after a taking a “penitential path.”

Delia Gallagher of CNN wanted to know what this “penitential path” might be. Archbishop Forte said it would be similar to the debate in the early Church about whether widows could remarry and that the Church allowed after she had trod a “penitential path.” Forte did not answer the question.

This was the feeling of many of the journalists afterwards; that the document is not only controversial but also confusing and the press conference did not clear up much of anything.

Respected Vatican journalist John Allen of the Boston Globe said the document is promoting a kind of “lifestyle ecumenism” similar to the ecumenism that grew out of the Second Vatican Council where the Church recognized the partial truth existing in other Christian denominations and even other religions while understanding the whole truth resides in the Catholic Church.

In this document and in the subsequent Synod, Allen is suggesting that the Church will maintain that a married man and women with children is the Church teaching and the gold standard but that the Church will recognize at least the partial the truth and goodness in other couplings including the divorced and civilly remarried and homosexual couples.

The document presented today will inform the rest of this week’s meetings where the bishops will divide into language groups and make further recommendations for the whole Synod to take place next year.

Link:

• Press Grill Vatican on Divorce, Remarriage, and Homosexuality
• Confused, Contradictory Chaos in Rome

BREAKING: NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade Goes Gay - Dolan Cheers!

Related:

• Unfaithful Bishops and Catholic Media 
• Wicked Bishops  
• St. Patrick’s Day Parade ending ban on gay groups

St. Patrick’s Day Parade ending ban on gay groups

By David K. Li

(New York Post) New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will finally end its ban on gay groups marching in its annual Irish celebration, organizers said Wednesday.

OUT@NBCUniversal — a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender affinity group at 30 Rock — will be flying its banner and marching up Fifth Avenue on March 17, officials said.

That’ll be the only gay group marching in the 2015 version of the world’s largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, but other LGBT groups can apply in future years, spokesman Bill O’Reilly said.

The organizing committee said this move to “change of tone and expanded inclusiveness is a gesture of goodwill to the LGBT community in our continuing effort to keep the parade above politics.”
OUT@NBCUniversal applied to be in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, according to Craig Robinson, executive vice president and chief diversity officer at NBCUniversal.

It wasn’t immediately clear why OUT@NBCUniversal was chosen or if there were any other openly gay groups that applied.

“We welcome the parade committee’s decision to accept OUT@NBCUniversal’s application to march and enthusiastically embrace the gesture of inclusion,” Robinson said.

“Our employees, families and friends look forward to joining in this time-honored celebration of Irish culture and heritage.”

Organizers insisted they are “remaining loyal to church teachings,” and O’Reilly said Cardinal Timothy Dolan — grand marshal of the 2015 parade — was “very supportive” of including gay groups in the event.

In a prepared statement Wednesday, Dolan didn’t outright endorse the move — but said the parade remains “close to its Catholic heritage.”

“Neither my predecessors as archbishop of New York nor I have ever determined who would or would not march in this parade (or any of the other parades that march along Fifth Avenue, for that matter),” he said, “but have always appreciated the cooperation of parade organizers in keeping the parade close to its Catholic heritage.”

“I know that there are thousands and thousands of gay people marching in this parade,” Dolan has said previously. “And I’m glad they are.”

Over the years, the parade’s ban on openly gay groups has grown problematic.

Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to march in this past year’s parade, and Guinness beer withdrew as a sponsor.

The Guinness loss was a huge factor in forcing parade organizers to change their long-standing policy, a former grand marshal told IrishCentral.com.

Guinness officials also played a role in brokering the deal that brought OUT@NBCUniversal into the 2015 parade, according to IrishCentral.com.

“Once an iconic company like Guinness showed it was standing up, pretty much everyone else had to follow,” the one-time grand marshal said.

Obviously, gay individuals have always marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade — but they’ve never before been allowed to participate under a banner identifying them as gay.

About 320 groups will be marching in the 2015 parade, the committee said.

“Organizers have diligently worked to keep politics — of any kind — out of the parade in order to preserve it as a single and unified cultural event,” organizers said. “Paradoxically, that ended up politicizing the parade.”

Politicians, city workers in uniform, marching bands, bagpipers and Irish dancers have all been stalwarts of the parade, which began in 1762.

Gay rights advocates hailed Wednesday’s announcement but said it was long overdue.

“It’s about time,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.

“Discrimination has no place on America’s streets, least of all on Fifth Avenue. As an Irish-Catholic American, I look forward to a fully inclusive St. Patrick’s Day Parade that I can share with my wife and children, just as my own parents shared with me.”

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — who, like de Blasio, did not march in this year’s parade over the gay flap — hailed the organizers’ move.

“This is a welcome first step and a good day for New Yorkers who believe in fairness, equality, and human rights,” she said. “For far too long, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade excluded New Yorkers just because of who they [want] to love. I am happy organizers finally realized that this parade is better when all are invited.”

Former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is openly gay, said parade organizers have lifted a “terrible mark of discrimination and bigotry” by allowing a gay group to march.

“Today faith had been rewarded. After close to 25 years of struggle and hard work, the terrible mark of discrimination and bigotry has finally been lifted from Fifth Avenue and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” said the one-time mayoral hopeful.

“All of the members of the LGBT community and our allies deserve great thanks for never giving up and remaining committed, proud, and strong. I also want to wholeheartedly thank [parade organizers] the [Ancient Order of Hibernians] and Cardinal Dolan for taking this important step forward.”

Link:

• St. Patrick’s Day Parade ending ban on gay groups 

Related:

• BREAKING: NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade Goes Gay - Dolan Cheers!