The author of the book where he quotes Pope Francis extensively about homosexuality in the priesthood and religious life, says he gave the pope an opportunity to change things before the book was published, but the pope said to go for it.
Oddly enough though, the pope asked the author to remove the names of some priests and religious he had talked about and this is from the same pope who complains about people talking too much and gossiping.
You can press the title of the Crux article for the complete article. Below the title is the pertinent excerpt which bodes well for the Church.
One last comment, the author expresses surprise that some people wonder if this pope is Catholic or not. Hmmm!
Pope doesn’t back down from skepticism about gays in priesthood
“I sent him the distilled text on a Wednesday, during the Synod of Bishops on young people, faith and vocational discernment, which took place in October, and he called me on Saturday and told me he loved it,” Prado told Crux in Rome earlier this month.
The pope had very few changes to make, Prado said, and they were very specific things, like having the names of religious men and women he spoke about included in the book.
“I had told him, ‘Holy Father, there are some headlines here that could make people talk’,” Prado said he told the pontiff. “I’ve read it, and I agree with what I said, so go ahead,” was Francis’s response.
The priest has known the pope for several years now, as he was the editor of the Spanish editions of books compiling all the speeches and writings of then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio when Francis was the archbishop of Buenos Aires.
“I wasn’t surprised by the pope’s response to the question regarding homosexuals having access to the priesthood,” he said. “He doesn’t say anything beyond what the social doctrine of the Church says. And some in the gay world, the LGTBI community or gay lobby- because I believe there is a gay lobby that puts pressure worldwide, internationally, nationally and also in the ecclesial world- were disappointed because they had misunderstood other statements that the pope made earlier.”
“The Church has to welcome [gay] people, accompany them,” Prado said. “But one thing is to welcome people, another is to say that they have the right to be priests. First of all, no one has the right to be priests. It’s a call that comes from God that the Church confirms, and the Church sets the standard.”
“I don’t know why people are surprised that he’s Catholic,” Prado said of Francis. “He hasn’t said anything that is not part of traditional doctrine.”
According to Prado, what he describes as the “homosexual collective” saw itself “stopped” by Francis from “carrying their project forward,” but “this is the Church.”
9 comments:
A bit late, actions speak louder than words in this particular instance.
Father Fernando Prado said... "I wasn’t surprised by the pope’s response to the question regarding homosexuals having access to the priesthood.
"He doesn’t say anything beyond what the social doctrine of the Church says.
"And some in the gay world, the LGTBI community or gay lobby- because I believe there is a gay lobby that puts pressure worldwide, internationally, nationally and also in the ecclesial world- were disappointed because they had misunderstood other statements that the pope made earlier.”
“He hasn’t said anything that is not part of traditional doctrine.”
==============================================================================
Correct. Nobody, at least those who've encountered over the years Pope Francis' actual teachings, should be surprised that His Holiness Pope Francis holds and defends the True Religion.
But as countless Churchmen have noted...examples: Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Chaput, and Bishop Morlino (requiscat in pace), Pope Francis is our great orthodox Culture of Life Pontiff who has been misrepresented time and again by left-wingers and right-wingers within and without the Church.
Many within the homosexual lobby, not to mention right-wingers who delight in defaming Pope Francis, have often misrepresented Pope Francis' declarations to pretend that he's revolutionized Church teaching in regard to homosexuality.
But as Father Prado noted, Pope Francis has always held and promoted Catholic teaching in regard to homosexuality.
Incredibly, when he uttered his 100 percent orthodox comment about not judging those who have repented and sought the Lord, Pope Francis condemned the homosexual lobby. But right-wingers and left-wingers weren't keen to have noted that.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
His comment at the very beginning of his pontificate that we should not talk so much about abortion and homesexuality certainly did not help in the battle that our Lady said was to be the final one.....the attack on the family That disastrous comment opened the door for the left to attack the life teachings of Jesus as depicted in the five Catholic non negotiables.
He is going to have to do a lot more to reverse that error.
But MT, isn’t that a judgment?
rcg,
You are not being "fair" to MT, you are asking him to think, exercise judgment!! He still won't explain to me why PF is not dealing with the cocaine fueled gay sex orgies at the Vatican. I have asked him several times but he keeps dodging me. I guess there is no "cut and paste" material available to refute me!
johnnyc said..."His comment at the very beginning of his pontificate that we should not talk so much about abortion and homesexuality certainly did not help in the battle that our Lady said was to be the final one.....the attack on the family That disastrous comment opened the door for the left to attack the life teachings of Jesus as depicted in the five Catholic non negotiables. He is going to have to do a lot more to reverse that error."
As Bishop Morlino (rest in peace), and Cardinal Burke, as examples, made clear, the context of the Pope's 2013 A.D. remark about abortion and homosexuality has been taken out of context.
Pope Francis' comment in question echoed the very point that Pope Benedict XVI made during an August 5, 2006 A.D. interview.
The point that Popes Benedict XVI and Francis made is that we cannot talk, as well as issue endless condemnations constantly about two issues — abortion and homosexuality.
The Church must first bring people to Jesus Christ...to preach to them in positive, uplifting fashion...to enable them to understand, as Pope Benedict XVI noted, that Catholicism isn't a negative, we-oppose-this-and-that, religion.
Pope Benedict XVI: Catholicism isn't a collection of prohibitions.
==============================================================================
Question and answer from Pope Benedict XVI's 2006 A.D. interview:
Q: "A month ago you were in Valencia for the World Meeting of Families. Anyone who was listening carefully, as we tried to do at Radio Vatican, noticed how you never mentioned the words "homosexual marriage," you never spoke about abortion, or about contraception.
Careful observers thought that was very interesting. Clearly your idea is to go around the world preaching the faith rather than as an "apostle of morality."
Pope Benedict XVI: "Obviously, yes. Christianity, Catholicism, isn't a collection of prohibitions: it's a positive option. It's very important that we look at it again because this idea has almost completely disappeared today.
"We've heard so much about what is not allowed that now it's time to say: we have a positive idea to offer...
"As far as abortion is concerned, it's part of the fifth, not the sixth, commandment: "Thou shalt not kill!"
"We have to presume this is obvious and always stress that the human person begins in the mother's womb and remains a human person until his or her last breath.
"But all this is clearer if you say it first in a positive way."
==========================================================================
That is the approach that Pope Francis has conducted in continuity. Present Catholicism in positive fashion. Leave the fire and brimstone preaching gimmicks to others.
Do not obsess about one or two issues.
That said, when the times were ripe, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated Church teachings about abortion and homosexuality...the same applies to Pope Francis.
Pope Francis has, on many occasions, reiterated Church teaching related to abortion and homosexuality. But we don't obsess about one or two issues. There is more to Catholicism than that.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
johnnyc said..."His comment at the very beginning of his pontificate that we should not talk so much about abortion and homesexuality certainly did not help in the battle that our Lady said was to be the final one.....the attack on the family That disastrous comment opened the door for the left to attack the life teachings of Jesus as depicted in the five Catholic non negotiables.
"He is going to have to do a lot more to reverse that error."
==================================================================
Bishop Morlino (requiescant in pace.) (and Cardinal Burke), for example, understood Pope Francis' comment in question
Bishop Morlino said of Pope Francis comment:
""But what he's trying to do, as Cardinal Burke said in L’Osservatore Romano, that article he wrote, (the pope) is trying to remove every obstacle from people meeting Jesus Christ.
"In other words, if people are, as he put it, obsessed — that may not be the best word — but if people want to talk about abortion and they want to talk about same-sex unions and all those things, there's a time and a place for that.
"But if bringing that up immediately places an obstacle to someone meeting Jesus Christ, he wants them to meet Jesus Christ and then bring that up. Because when somebody has the mind of Christ, the whole world looks different, and someone who might think the teaching on same-sex unions is behind the times and pure folly might see it quite differently if they had met Jesus Christ risen from the dead.
"That's what Pope Francis is trying to do. He's trying to get them to focus on Christ without any other obstacles. Don't bring anything else up. Bring them Jesus Christ. It's a wonderful thing to see that.
"So he's more interested in bringing him to Christ than in watching every word. If you're going to bring someone to Christ, and you're going to take them where they're at, you can't watch every word, because then that connection won't happen. B
"But then, after they meet Jesus Christ, they see things differently, and then there's a time for clarification, and that clarification is there in the writings of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict."
=======================================================
Bishop Morlino:..."if people want to talk about abortion and they want to talk about same-sex unions and all those things, there's a time and a place for that."
That is the point that Pope Francis (and Pope Benedict XVI) made...talk about such issues...but there's more to Catholicism, more to discuss, than one or two issues.
It is sad that certain folks twisted the context of Pope Francis' declaration in question.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Finally, with Father McDonald's permission...
Even the folks at LifeSiteNews, who have worked overtime to portray Pope Francis negatively, understood the context of Pope Francis' 2013 A.D. comment about abortion, homosexuality, and contraception.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/check-out-all-the-times-pope-francis-has-spoken-out-on-life-and-family-issu
Mon Jun 23, 2014
Check out all the times Pope Francis has spoken out on life and family issues
Do you remember the initial shock of that Jesuit magazine interview with Pope Francis back in September 2013? The one where the pope seemed to be saying the Church should pull back from her perceived emphasis on “abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods”?
(Actually, Pope Francis did not say that...he didn't "seem" to have said any such thing. Back to LifeSiteNews' comments.)
Taking a look at his speeches and homilies it seems that, while not “all the time,” the pope chooses to raise the life and family issues in some form at least once a month.
On June 2, 2014 he spoke against the contraceptive mentality...
On June 1, 2014, Francis spoke of how the devil “attacks the family so much. The demon does not love it and seeks to destroy it.”
Earlier, in May, 2014 Pope Francis had expressed public support for 40 Days for Life, saying that the group’s “prayer, fasting and sacrifices are saving countless lives and giving glory to God.”
On April 25, 2014, during his visit with the Bishops of the South African Bishops Conference, Pope Francis emphasized that “abortion compounds the grief of many women” and that marriage, which he said is a "lifelong covenant of love between one man and one woman," is “disintegrating under tremendous pressure from the secular world.”
...the pope proposed that “we bishops and priests must give a consistent witness to the moral teaching of the Gospel.”
On March 6, 2014 Pope Francis praised Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which had famously reiterated the traditional Christian teaching against contraception, hailing it as “prophetic” and praised Paul VI’s “genius.”
Paul VI, he said, “had the courage to place himself against the majority, defending the moral discipline, exercising a culture brake, opposing present and future neo-Malthusianism.”
In both January 2014 and December 2013, Pope Francis spoke of abortion using the concept of “the throwaway culture.”
On November 26, the Pope released The Gospel of Joy, his first apostolic exhortation. In it the Holy Father addressed abortion, writing, “the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question.”
“Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent among us.” I want to be completely honest in this regard. This is not something subject to alleged reforms or ‘modernizations’,” he said.
“Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative. Yet this defence of unborn life is closely linked to the defence of each and every other human right.”
In October the pope’s gesture was stronger than words. He received a former abortionist who surrendered the tools of his trade to the Holy Father. According to the former abortionist, Pope Francis said to him, “This evening I will pray. This [the instruments] I have to bring with me to my room to Santa Marta.”
“Then he laid his hands on me, and said, ‘You are blessed and fight for life.”
On September 13, 2013 Pope Francis said the Church offers the world a vision of the family, founded in the Scriptures...
Going by the pope’s example, it seems priests might want to raise life and family issues in their homilies at least once a month. Hopefully they too will have the courage to be blunt in challenging the faithful to be open to life and family.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
MT,
Still no response on what the Pope has done about the cocaine fueled gay sex orgies at the Vatican? No cut and paste defense?
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