legal recognition of same-sex unions?

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Pope Francis and recognition of same-sex unions.

21 October 2020

Dear KU Catholics:

Pope Francis makes another headline!  Buckle up!

I wanted to comment as soon as I could regarding Pope Francis' openness to the legal recognition of same-sex unions.

Let me comment, knowing that I need to do more research, and I reserve the right to edit or change my comments based on better information coming in.

First of all, these are the comments of a pastor not an official statement of the Pope that is binding on all the faithful.  The comments are significant.  Yet this is not a change in Church teaching.  Pope Francis is commenting on a pastoral situation to an interviewer for a documentary, not writing a binding papal encyclical!  So this is more commentary than teaching.

Pope Francis is a merciful pastor.  This is nothing new.  He wants to reach out to outsiders.  His heart breaks for those who feel alienated by the Church most responsible for giving Jesus' mercy.  He knows most people, especially the young, are put off by the Church's teaching that marriage is only between a man and a woman, even as that teaching is right, confirmed in natural and divine law, and by Jesus Himself.  He wants to reach out, not stay closed in.

Pope Francis wants to reach out, and to change Himself as much as He can, imitating the self-sacrificial love of Christ.  He does this while also living in the tension that love and truth must never be separated, for to separate truth from love is to lose both.

Pope Francis knows that he cannot equivocate same-sex unions to marriage between a man and a woman.  This would be confusing and harmful to everyone, including those Pope Francis wants to reach out to.  He cannot equivocate.  Still, in these recent comments, he might see that the Church can still uphold its teaching on marriage without actively opposing same-sex unions.  

The Church might recognize that naturally, persons of the same-sex can be drawn into deep friendships of love and support that can be good for them and others.  These potentially could be recognized, without undermining the Church's responsibility to safeguard and promote traditional marriage.

The Church could potentially maintain her commitment to fostering chastity and the reservation of sexual intimacy to its most fruitful expression in marriage, without having to actively oppose recognition of same-sex unions legally.  Those relationships would not enjoy any special recognition in the Church, just not a pro forma outright rejection, which is what most same-sex couples feel now.

Again, the Holy Father is trying to show us how to be good pastors, rich in mercy.  He is not trying to confuse or destroy the essential goods of marriage.  He is not trying to change Catholic sacramentality ormorality.  He is trying as try might, to find a place in God's family for all God's children who want to live and love as Jesus did.

I do not know if this approach will work.  I do not mind that he is exploring what is possible.