Pope Francis and the
Church’s Vision of
Sexuality
I missed much of the World Youth Day
coverage this year due to travel for a family function across the country. However, on July 29, as I was waiting for a
connection at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, I saw a television screen in the
distance with a reporter’s face on it and the caption, “Pope Francis on
homosexuality: ‘Who am I to judge?’”
Obviously I knew immediately that the
truth about whatever the pope had said was quite different from what was being
spun. By now we probably all know the
proper context. The pope was simply
reaffirming Catholic teaching that, though homosexual acts are sinful, same-sex
attraction in itself merely constitutes temptation, not sin. Specifically Pope Francis was responding to a
question regarding homosexual clergy. He
responded that he would not judge a priest who was faithful to his vow of
celibacy and trying to grow closer to God, regardless of whom he was attracted
to.
His faithfulness to his vow, in fact,
would be a heroic virtue. But every
priest has sacrificed to be faithful to his vow. They have all laid down their passions for
the sake of the Kingdom. One thing that
is lost is that chastity is a requirement for every faithful Catholic, and for
every unmarried Catholic, that means abstinence. There is no singling out of those with
same-sex attraction, and the virtue of every chaste Catholic is heroic,
especially in our age.
Why, then, was such a big deal made
out of what the pope said? There was
nothing new or earth-shattering in it.
True, his tone on the issue is very pastoral, but the broadcast I saw in
the airport was clearly trying to present him as leading the Church in a new
direction.
With the recent court battles over
same-sex “marriage,” and the constant restrictions on religious speech on the
issue of homosexuality, it is a very hot button issue right now. Those on the left are selling the notion that
there is unstoppable momentum for the redefinition of marriage and the
outlawing of “hate speech.” But they
keep running into a wall which they can not topple: the Catholic Church.
The Church refuses to “get on board,”
and continues to defend an authentic definition of marriage. And what’s more, she does it with conviction
and compassion. Any opportunity to
report cracks in that wall, even manufactured ones, is an opportunity to drown
out the most powerful voice we have left.
In the process, though, there is so
much lost. The Church’s position will
not be successfully distorted, and she will never stop speaking the truth. However, there is such a powerful message
that is being overlooked.
As our country fights back and forth
over the issue of same-sex “marriage,” the Church offers a vision of hope and
dignity.
The position of the Church on same-sex
“marriage” is crystal clear, but there’s a reason she doesn’t get involved in
the shouting and mud-slinging that dominate all political discourse these days. The Catholic Church has a message of dignity
and identity. It is only the Church that
insists that every human being is made in the Image and Likeness of God; that
all people have unparalleled dignity and inestimable worth.
The Church offers a vision of marriage
and sexuality so much higher than the culture, our culture can’t even begin to
understand it. Marriage is a sign of the
relationship between Christ and the Church, and we participate in the building
up of the Kingdom of God and dare I say the very life of the Trinity, when we
faithfully and chastely live out our sexual nature, according to our state in
life.
The exalted vision that God gives us
for our sexuality has been rejected by a culture that is totally base. We suffer from divorce, infidelity, sexual
addiction, perversions, abuse, pornography, rape, single-parenthood and the rest,
because we are fools grasping on our own to define a gift that can never be
properly expressed apart from the Giver of the gift.
The Church continues to be the only
hope for civilization, and to offer the only vision for sexuality that affirms
our great dignity. And our culture
continues to tune her out. Pope Francis
will continue to present this vision to the world. And sadly, he will probably continue to be
distorted.
