VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — With the announcement of yet another consistory under Pope Francis, attention is drawn to the credentials of the cardinal-elects, many of whom are notable for their openness to LGBT ideology.
As noted by LifeSite, Francis announced a December 8 consistory to create 21 new cardinals, 20 of whom will be able to vote in a conclave.
READ: Pope Francis names pro-LGBT Father Timothy Radcliffe among 21 new cardinals
A number of the men tapped for the red hat have vocally supported Pope Francis’ controversial 2023 document Fiducia Supplicans – in which the blessing of homosexual and “irregular unions” is sanctioned – as well as holding liberal positions on transgenderism.
Alongside notorious LGBT advocate Father Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, Philippines issued a statement on Fiducia Supplicans, stating that the controversial document “speaks for itself” and arguing that it is “clear” both in its “content and intent,” without the need for “much explanation.”
David also stated in an interview during the 2023 Synod on Synodality session that the “northern hemisphere” places too much emphasis on “gender, sexuality,” among other things, and that “(w)here I come from we’re just human beings.”
“In the Filipino language, there is a same word for man and woman,” David emphasized.
Beside his support for Fiducia Supplicans and while serving as president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Bishop David defended the Pope’s endorsement of same-sex civil unions in a 2020 article by describing Francis as imitating Jesus by reaching out to the marginalized, such as Christ did with prostitutes and tax collectors. David argued that Francis “is not out to destroy our morals and orthodoxy” by calling for “civil union law,” but that he values “being kind and compassionate more than being right and righteous.”
David, who is representing the Filipino bishops at the October Synod on Synodality session, has also previously endorsed a proposed bill in the Philippines to enable special protections relating to “gender identity” and “sexual orientation,” describing the legislation as a “Christian imperative.”
Ecuadorian Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera said in response to Fiducia Supplicans that the Church cannot “marginalize” homosexuals, arguing that the Pope’s call for “a general blessing” in this regard is not at odds with Church teaching on marriage and sexual complementarity.
Algerian prelate Jean-Paul Vesco spoke out after the African bishops, led by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, rejected the call for same-sex blessings in Fiducia Supplicans, categorically disassociating from their position. “This is not what we intended to convey to our dioceses,” he said, lending his personal support to the official welcome of Fiducia Supplicans issued by the Northern African bishops.
Similarly, Archbishop Jaime Spengler of Porto Algere, Brazil, supported Fiducia Supplicans in an interview affirming that that Church “can’t deny” blessings on same-sex couples, adding that the Church must “meet every authentically human need.”
Though he has joined public campaigns against moves to expand abortion pills, Tokyo Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi has long supported the LGBT agenda, allowing special Masses for the group “LGBT Catholic Japan” in his archdiocese while also – according to New Ways Ministry – authoring a series of essays entitled LGBT and Christianity for Catholic HIV/AIDS.
InfoVaticana pointed out that Kikuchi’s notes form part of a book that supposedly “conveys the richness of sexual diversity and possibilities by talking about the difficulties of life for sexual minorities, as well as the hopes and examples that are constantly being realized in society and the Church.”
“This book presents the efforts of those involved and their supporters to eliminate discrimination and prejudice,” the book’s description reads.
In Italy, Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin is noted to have given his approval for a gender-confused woman to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation while presenting herself as a man and under her newly assumed male name.
According to a report from Luce!, the diocese took pains to circumvent a ruling from the Italian bishops’ conference that does not permit the alteration of baptismal records for the sake of so-called “gender transitions.”
InfoVaticana reported that fellow cardinal-elect, Archbishop Carlos Gustavo Castillo of Lima, Peru, is a close follower of Marxism and liberation theology who has defended the liberal ideology as merely “condemned by conservatives, not officially by the Church.” Castillo was removed as a professor of theology over his heretical views by his predecessor, Juan Luis Cipriani, before being raised to the episcopacy by Pope Francis in 2019.
With the Pope’s upcoming consistory giving him a super majority among the College of Cardinals, the credentials of each of the cardinal-elects regarding moral issues is increasingly important and notable. By the end of 2024, with the new cardinals and with two others aging out (reaching their 80th birthday and being too old to vote in a papal conclave), Francis will have created 111 of the 140 eligible voters.
According to pro-LGBT group New Ways Ministry, founded by Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent (both of whom were disciplined by the Vatican in 1999 over their pro-LGBT stance), at least nine of the 20 eligible voting cardinal-elects in the upcoming consistory are considered “LGBTQ-positive.”
With widespread silence among the College of Cardinals against significant gains for the LGBT lobby within the Church – gains evidenced by Fiducia Supplicans – a new consistory heavily populated by pro-LGBT prelates will only add to the current situation.
Writing October 9, theologian and author José Ureta urged a continued resistance to same-sex blessings:
In conclusion, we must resist the application of Fiducia Supplicans, just as St Paul resisted St Peter when he wished to reintroduce into the early Church synagogue practices that scandalised the Gentile faithful. Or as St Athanasius resisted Pope Liberus and the vast majority of the fourth-century episcopate who had succumbed to the Arian heresy. He was persecuted, but today he shines in the firmament of the Church as one of its brightest stars.”
The famous red colors of a cardinal’s choir dress are symbolic of the blood that he must be prepared to shed in defense of the Catholic faith. With such notable heterodoxy among the College already, many have commented that the faith is preserved not so much by cardinals as by laity.
Michael Haynes contributed to this report.