US Archbishop: It Is All About Moral Nature Of Homosexual Acts
Francis’ scribble on homosexual blessings is “a doubleminded exercise” in simultaneously affirming and undercutting Catholic teaching. So writes US Archbishop Emeritus Charles Chaput, 79, on FirstThings.com (22 December).
He notes that the Vatican has begun to call a sinful relationship “irregular”. This neuters the reality of morally defective behavior and leads to confusion about what we call “sin.”
Chaput argues that marriage is not the point of Francis’ scribble, “The document does not in fact change Church teaching on marriage, it does seem to change Church teaching on the sinfulness of same-sex activity.”
Key phrase, “Over the past decade, ambiguity on certain matters of Catholic doctrine and practice has become a pattern for the current pontificate.”
Chaput mentions other examples: Francis’ criticism of American Catholics that has too often been unjust and uninformed. Or that much of the German Church is effectively in schism, yet Rome first unwisely tolerated Germany’s ‘synodal path,’ and then reacted too slowly to preclude the negative results. Furthermore, Francis has asked the International Theological Commission to work on “de-masculinizing” the Church even though fatherhood and male Christian spiritual leadership are in crisis.