(LifeSiteNews) — In breaking news today, the “Catholic” bishops of Switzerland have come out against any kind of counseling to assist men and women afflicted with same-sex attraction from seeking help to change their disordered orientation — or to assist parents whose children are indoctrinated in schools from seeking help to reorient them to the truth about human sexuality.
The bishops backed the government’s proposed legislation that would also criminalize faithful priests who would seek to assist parents whose children have been abused in school by manipulative sex education that paints homosexuality as normal and acceptable.
Here are quotes from the bishops’ press release issued yesterday:
From the perspective of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBK), any form of conversion measure constitutes targeted manipulation intended to induce a person to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity. This can occur through methods such as pressure, blame, threats, isolation, denigration, or religious fear.
So, wait, are they now saying that Catholics who have prayed for centuries in the act of contrition “I detest all my sins because I fear the loss of heaven and the pains of hell” were wrong for all those centuries? That all those mission preachers who caused countless conversions by reminding people of death, judgment, heaven and hell were all guilty of spiritual abuse for instilling religious fear?
But the bishops also say this in their release:
The Swiss Bishops’ Conference (SBK) firmly rejects conversion measures. They are incompatible with a pastoral mission based on acceptance, truthfulness, and the protection of the individual. In a religious context, such practices can constitute spiritual abuse when people are shamed, threatened, or manipulated in the name of God.
READ: Swiss bishops ‘strongly reject’ conversion therapy for homosexual, ‘transgender’ individuals
This is deceptive evil.
First of all, they are also slamming Jesus Himself, who often employed shame to bring about conversion. He publicly called out the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites, blind guides, whitewashed tombs and a brood of vipers. Was Jesus committing spiritual abuse for publicly shaming? This, the real Jesus, is evidently no longer the Christ of the Swiss bishops.
Next, let’s remember what the Catechism actually says: homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.” The inclination itself is “objectively disordered.” Yet the bishops’ statement never once quotes Scripture, Tradition, or the Magisterium on this. Instead, they cite a recent homily from Pope Leo XIV about “God’s love” and “respecting individual histories.”
Where is the love in telling a young man tormented by same-sex attraction that the only “pastoral” option is lifelong acceptance of the act? Where is the charity in shutting down the very priests, therapists, and counselors who have helped thousands walk the path of freedom and holiness? LifeSite has documented these testimonies for years — men and women who found peace through prayer, sacramental life, and, yes, sometimes professional counseling aimed at addressing underlying wounds. Those stories are now being outlawed as “abuse.”
The bishops claim they’re protecting dignity. But true dignity comes from living according to God’s design, not from affirming confusion. By supporting this ban, the Swiss episcopate is effectively telling faithful Catholics: If your child or a relative or friend with same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria comes to you seeking help to live as the Church teaches, you risk breaking the law and spiritually abusing them if you teach them the truths of the faith.
It is these bishops who are the true spiritual abusers. They abandon souls to their disordered inclinations instead of offering them the saving power of Christ and the possibility with His grace to live in conformity with God’s holy will. They put souls on the pathway to eternal damnation and themselves too in the process. This is a vivid example of what soon-to-be Blessed Bishop Fulton Sheen warned about when he spoke of a false church.
We need to stay grounded in the true faith and recognize the counterfeits that Bishop Sheen warned would “ape the Church.” Stay close to Christ and His Holy Mother so that you can recognize true shepherds from the wolves, no matter if they dress up in the clothing of shepherds.
This is John-Henry Westen for LifeSite. Stay strong, stay faithful, and keep the Faith. God bless you.
