Letter from the Pastor
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November 8, 2020During the Middle Ages, the Church spoke of the “two bodies of the Pope”: the “body” of the sinful, fallible man, born in time and place; and the “body” who stood on earth as the Vicar of Christ. Since Pope Francis, there has developed a popular misunderstanding that every statement the pope speaks must be accepted as official papal teaching, without the distinction. The mass media has certainly wanted to pick and choose among the sayings of Pope Francis, in order to fit their ideology or news’ slant which is to show how the Catholic Church is undergoing a revolution and is changing its teachings on certain key questions of faith and morals.
It becomes more complicated because Pope Francis regularly chooses to speak in everyday language, especially during airplane interviews, one–on-one interviews, or in spontaneous remarks. We have not been accustomed to the pope speaking off the cuff; in the past the pope read his statements. In fact, great care had always been taken, so that any published words of the Pope were clearly in accord with the Magisterium. Many of the offices of the Curial had to approve the statements before publication, for example the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Secretariat of State and other Offices that were competent to judge the statements.
Pope Francis has chosen to speak often in his first body, the body of the man who is Pope. Such is the case recently, when in an interview he mentioned that civil union laws covering homosexuals are needed. In 2019, Pope Francis gave an on-camera interview to Televisa, a Mexican media outlet. He made two points about homosexuality. The first was that families should not ostracize their homosexual sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. The second was that while marriage could never include same-sex couples, some sort of “civil unions” could provide legal protection for same-sex couples — but not limited to them.
On Oct. 21, the documentary film Francesco by Evgeny Afineevsky was released.. Afineevsky had not been allowed to interview the Holy Father on camera, but had been given access to Vatican film archives. From the 2019 Televisa interview, he took about 20 seconds from five separate elements of that interview to create a false impression, namely that the Holy Father was open to formal recognition of same-sex unions, perhaps even including the right to adopt children. Afineevsky left out what Pope Francis had said about the “incongruity” of same-sex unions with marriage.
Ten days later, the Vatican said comments by Pope Francis were taken out of context and did not actually mean a change in the Catholic Church's doctrine on the topic of homosexuality or support for same-sex marriage. An "explanatory note" has now been sent to Vatican ambassadors and bishops throughout the world.
The Vatican's Secretariat of State clarified that the pope opposed homosexual marriage and made clear he was referring to civil union laws, which some countries have enacted to regulate benefits such as health care. However, the Church has strongly opposed civil-union laws. A 2003 document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith expressed opposition to civil unions for same-sex couples, saying that “respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.” It goes against the Social teaching of the Church to legitimize through laws a sinful situation.
“It is a misunderstanding of rights to suggest or infer that legal arrangements of civil societies can confer a status equivalent to marriage to couples who do not conform to God’s intention and design for marriage.”
It is important to remember that the Church is obliged to hand on faithfully what she has received from Christ. It is the mind of Christ that marriage is an indissoluble bond between one man and one woman, for the procreation of children and the mutual love and salvation of the partners. The Church preaches and acts upon this truth, regardless of the passing opinions of states, countries or cultures.
So remember, not every word that a pope speaks is correct and may be just “mere opinion” of a man. For centuries no one ever knew the personal opinions or likes or dislikes of a pope. The truth is unchangeable–opinions are not. One has to distinguish the words of the man who is Pope and the words of the Pope as Vicar of Christ on earth.
The Fatima Statue
Our parish, for a few years has been blessed to have the Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady of Fatima visit us during the month of May. Last May we were in the throes of the Pandemic and the statue was not travelling to different parishes. We are now honored & blessed to have the Statue with us for the month of November.
Our Lady of Fatima,
pray for our parishioners and their loved ones.
Amen