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Fr. Philip Bochanski, director of Courage International, a Catholic apostolate for people with same-sex attractions, spoke after Pope Francis’ sayings about coexistence or civil union.
The priest made his pronouncement, through the Courage website, given the many questions he has received in recent days and recalled that “Jesus always gave his grace to Saint Peter and his successors to teach the Church clearly. When one of those successors expresses his opinion in interviews or in similar ways, we have to listen carefully and try to understand and respect his judgment as our Holy Father.
Father Bochanski later indicated that Pope Francis “knows that such comments are not the same as the Magisterium, that is to say, the authority and responsibility to teach definitively on matters of faith and morals that the Lord Jesus entrusted to the Pope and the bishops in communion with him ”.
“Our faith is firm that, when the Pope and the bishops exercise the Magisterium and definitively teach, the Holy Spirit always guides them and prevents them from teaching wrongly. This is true on issues of sexuality, marriage and family as with any other matter of faith and morals.
The statement appears after some affirmations of the Pope were known in the documentary Francesco, released in Rome on Wednesday, October 21.
In the documentary, the Pope is heard saying that “homosexual people have the right to be in the family. They are children of God, they have the right to a family. No one can be thrown out of the family, or make life impossible for that ”. “What we have to do is a law of civil coexistence. They have the right to be covered legally, ”Pope Francis said. “I defended that,” he added.
The director of Courage recalled that “the truth – which God has established as the only context for the total gift of oneself that is reflected in sexual intimacy – is founded on the nature of the human person, on the revealed Word of God, and in the consistent teaching of the Church. Sexual relationships are only morally good in the context of permanent and faithful marriage between a man and a woman, whose relationship is open to having children. That is a teaching that cannot and will not be changed by anyone”.
“The moral consequences of this truth are clearly stated in the sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that speak of the creation of man and woman (numbers 355 to 384), the sacrament of marriage (numbers 1601 to 1666), and in the sixth and ninth commandments (numbers 2331 to 2400, and 2514 to 2533). I urge you to read and meditate on these beautiful teachings expressed there, which Christ has imparted to us his Church.
Fr Bochanski recalled that the Catholic Church has “a clear framework of principles for its judgment on civil norms to protect or grant rights to people who live together in a same-sex relationship.”
The priest referred to the document that in 2003 the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), under the direction of Pope Saint John Paul II, issued the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith taught on homosexual unions.
The text specifies that “respect for homosexual persons cannot in any way lead to the approval of homosexual behavior or the legalization of homosexual unions. The common good requires that the laws recognize, favor and protect the marriage union as the basis of the family, the primary cell of society ”.
Likewise, it is highlighted in the document that “legally recognizing homosexual unions or equating them to marriage would mean not only approving a deviant behavior and turning it into a model for today’s society, but also obscuring fundamental values that belong to the common heritage of humanity. The Church cannot stop defending such values, for the good of men and of all society ”and that the support of politicians for such unions is“ gravely immoral ”.
In his statement, Fr Bochanski explained that “we must not forget that the Holy Father did not in fact mention this framework but rather began his statements by insisting that people who experience same-sex attraction should never be rejected or excluded by their own families”.
“We know this to be true because it is at the very heart of our EnCourage apostolate in which your parents, husbands, siblings and friends who pray a lot for their loved ones and for the grace to keep the faith while keeping their families strong and intact , they already live heroically what the Holy Father is asking of the whole world ”, continued the priest.
“You Courage members who make so many sacrifices while striving for chastity, prayerful brotherhood and true friendship are a heroic testimony to the world that a person does not need to be in a sexual relationship to give and receive love that is sincere, loyal, and full”.
The director of Courage International further said that “the media in recent days has left you feeling anxious, unseen and even rejected, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Church’s teaching on these important topics is embodied and clear in their daily lives”.
“The Pope’s statements about loving and protecting our brothers and sisters who experience same-sex attraction do not alienate them from his sacrificial and heroic witness. They depend on this! “
Father Bochanski also stressed that “the Word of God that He has entrusted to the Church and the teaching that flows from it, is invariable, and ‘the gates of hell will not prevail over her‘. Most importantly, the love we share in our apostolate is stronger than ever and each challenge we face today makes us stronger.
“We have built on firm foundations and we need not to be afraid of the storms that come from the world around us,” he concluded.
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