By FR. BRIAN W. HARRISON, OS
On October 20, 2020, Pope Francis was reported as saying in a new documentary interview that civil unions ought to be legally recognized for same-sex couples.
This not only contradicts the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s previous firm rejection of all such proposals under then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Pope St. John Paul II; it also seems clearly incompatible with the Final Relatio of the 2015 Synod on the Family, which cited that same CDF document in its n. 76. (See below.)
Indeed, the Pope’s new statement appears at variance even with his own more formal teaching on this point, since he in turn confirmed n. 76 of the Synod’s statement in n. 251 of his follow-up Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia of March 19, 2016. The Synod said this:
“76. The Church’s attitude is like that of her Master, who offers his boundless love to every person without exception (cf. MV, 12). To families with homosexual members, the Church reiterates that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his/her dignity and received with respect, while carefully avoiding ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons, 4). Specific attention is given to guiding families with homosexual members. Regarding proposals to place unions of homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, ‘there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family’ (ibid). In every way, the Synod maintains as completely unacceptable that local Churches be subjected to pressure in this matter and that international bodies link financial aid to poor countries to the introduction of laws to establish ‘marriage’ between people of the same sex” (bold type added).
Now, if indeed homosexual unions are not “in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family,” then that is surely incompatible with granting a legal status to such unions which is not only “similar” to that accorded to marriage, but highly “analogous” to it. Establishing civil unions for homosexual couples is only one short step away from legally recognizing same-sex “marriage,” and greatly assists “LGBT” activists in their relentless drive to have the latter established in every jurisdiction on Earth.
It was precisely for that reason that Popes John Paul and Benedict insisted that in order to safeguard authentic marriage and family life in society (not to mention the religious freedom of traditional Christian and Jewish believers), the place for the Church to draw a line in the sand was already at civil unions, rather than waiting until same-sex “marriage” was on the table before registering any opposition.
Unfortunately this is not the first time that the present Pontiff has made a statement that seems discordant with the official teaching of his Predecessors. But this time what he says seems irreconcilable even with his own previous official teaching.
It will be important for us all to keep in mind that remarks made in a documentary film do not qualify as magisterial doctrine. Catholics will be entirely correct to continue holding that the Church formally opposes the project of same-sex civil unions, even if that opposition comes to be compromised in practice.
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