ANALYSIS

December 4, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The full book has not been released, but the teaser quotes from Pope Francis’ new book-length interview on clergy and religious life are causing a stir. The book suggests that active homosexuals within the ranks of clergy and religious are not acceptable. Only the most scrutinizing Pope-watchers will recognize Francis as having mentioned such things before since they seem to contradict so many of his words and actions.

The teaser quotes have the Pope warning against admitting practicing homosexuals into the priesthood. “In consecrated and priestly life, there’s no room for that kind of affection,” he says. “Therefore, the Church recommends that people with that kind of ingrained tendency should not be accepted into the ministry or consecrated life. The ministry or the consecrated life is not his place.” He added that homosexual priests and men and women religious should be urged to “live celibacy with integrity.”

Pope Francis has good reason to recognize the harm that homosexual clergy are causing. According to the recently-retired head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith which dealt with such cases, sexual abuse by the clergy was overwhelmingly homosexual in nature. Cardinal Gerhard Mueller has reported that more than 80% of victims of clergy sexual abuse are male. Moreover, Cardinal McCarrick's homosexual escapades, scandals such as the homosexual orgy in the Vatican apartment, and the public resignation of a homosexual Vatican priest hoping to alter the Chruch's teaching captured worldwide media attention.

Intentional or not, Pope Francis has established a pattern of saying one controversial thing which deflects attention from another controversial matter. For instance, the famous “who am I to judge” remarks – which exploded into a campaign seeing the Pope on the cover of many homosexual magazines – actually came in response to a question about a homosexually active priest.

Another such case was when Pope Francis became the first Pope in history to state publicly that contraception is permitted in certain cases. He predicated his remarks by calling abortion a “crime” – a narrative that stole both the attention of the media and also the hearts of pro-lifers. What many failed to notice, however, is that that remark was a prelude to his saying that the use of contraception (the pill and condoms) is permitted in grave cases such as where Zika virus may be transmitted, increasing the risk of birth defects.

In May of this year, Pope Francis told the bishops of Italy to exercise an “attentive discernment” regarding cases of possible homosexuality among potential seminarians. “If there is even the slightest doubt, it is better not to let them enter,” the Pope told them.

Those remarks came in the wake of a widely-reported conversation between Francis and Chilean sex abuse victim Juan Carlos Cruz, who identifies as “gay,” which gave rise to grave concerns about the integrity of the faith on the subject of homosexuality. In comments the Vatican refused to deny or confirm, the Pope allegedly said, “Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like that and he loves you like that and I do not care. The Pope loves you as you are, you have to be happy with who you are.”

When the full book is released, will Catholics see an attempt to shift Catholic teaching on homosexuality (which of course cannot in reality be changed)? The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls homosexual behavior “acts of grave depravity” which are “intrinsically disordered,” and calls homosexual tendencies “objectively disordered.” The teaching of the Church also forbids any recognition of “civil unions” between homosexuals or silence about the immorality of homosexual acts.

Here are a number of reasons why some might worry about such a possibility: