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VATICAN CITY, March 25, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis appointed Juan Carlos Cruz, an openly homosexual man, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Wednesday. Cruz is himself a victim of clerical sexual abuse.
According to the 2004 John Jay Report on the nature and scope of clerical sexual abuse of minors, “The results of our study indicated that of all victims whose gender was reported, … 81% were male and 19% were female.” In other words, it seems that sexual abuse committed by members of the priesthood is overwhelmingly homosexual in nature.
However, Margaret Smith, a John Jay College of Criminal Justice researcher, cautioned, “At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse.” Karen Terry, another researcher, argued, “Someone can commit sexual acts that might be of a homosexual nature but not have a homosexual identity.”
Previously, in 2018, Cruz had already met with Pope Francis at the Vatican for a private meeting where he alleged that the Pope affirmed him in his homosexuality, telling him that “God made you gay.”
Cruz said at the time Francis told him “that you are gay does not matter. God made you like that and he loves you like that and I do not care. The Pope loves you as you are, you have to be happy with who you are.”
When approached for clarification on whether or not Francis made the comments as alleged by Cruz, the Vatican press office’s Cristina Ravenda told LifeSiteNews at the time, “The Vatican does not comment on private conversations of the Pope.” No clarification has been offered since.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that persons with homosexual inclinations “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity,” adding that “[e]very sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
With that in mind, the Catechism describes homosexual activity as a “grave depravity,” based on Sacred Scripture, and that such acts are “intrinsically disordered.” As a result, “homosexual persons are called to chastity.”
Despite the clear, traditional teaching of the Church on the matter of same-sex relations, Cruz hit out last week at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which had just released a ruling banning the blessing of same-sex relationships.
Cruz, an outspoken advocate for a change to the Church’s perennial (and biblical) doctrine on homosexuality, said that those behind the CDF document “are completely in a world of their own, away from people and trying to defend the indefensible.”
He suggested, “If the church and the CDF do not advance with the world … Catholics will continue to flee,” adding that the Pope stands at odds with the leadership in the CDF.
Cruz will now serve on the Pontifical Committee for the Protection of Minors for three years.
Remarks attributed to Pope Francis (and, not denied by the Vatican) in support of homosexual civil unions have caused grave scandal to the faithful.
Please SIGN this urgent petition which asks Pope Francis to clarify and rectify these heterodox and scandalous remarks on homosexual civil unions, and which will be delivered both to the Vatican and to the Papal Nuncio of the United States (the Pope's official representative in the U.S.).
As the last guarantor of the Faith, the Pope should clarify and rectify these remarks, which go against the perennial teaching of the Church, even including the teaching of his living predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
"What we have to create is a law of civil coexistence [meaning civil union law, for homosexuals]...," Pope Francis is reported to have remarked, in what is arguably his clearest statement of public support for a practice morally prohibited by official Catholic Church teaching.
In fact, the Church has been crystal clear in Her opposition to homosexual unions.
Just in 2003, Pope Saint John Paul II approved a document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, titled 'Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons' and written by Cardinal Ratzinger (now, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), which concludes with the following:
"The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself."
It could not be more clear: the Church is calling people to repentance, not to be left to indulge in grave sin.
Since becoming public, several senior prelates as well as other notable Catholic figures have voiced their opposition to these remarks attributed to the Pontiff.
Cardinal Raymond Burke stated: "It is a source of deepest sadness and pressing pastoral concern that the private opinions reported with so much emphasis by the press and attributed to Pope Francis do not correspond to the constant teaching of the Church, as it is expressed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition."
Cardinal Gerhard Müller commented: "Where there is tension between the plain and obvious Word of God and the infallible interpretation on the one hand, and private expressions of opinion even by the highest church authorities on the other, the principle always applies: in dubio pro DEO [When in doubt, be in favor of God]."
And, Catholic theologian and apologist Scott Hahn, without directly quoting Pope Francis, shared on Facebook the 'Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,' published by the CDF in 1986, with the statement: "Holy Father, respectfully and humbly, I beg to differ... if that is indeed what you said. In any case, please clarify and rectify your statement, especially in view of the official teaching of our Lord through the magisterium of His Church."
But, the silence from the Vatican has been deafening, with no clarification forthcoming.
We must, therefore, ask the Pope for clarification in this serious matter.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition which asks Pope Francis to clarify and rectify remarks attributed to him in support of homosexual civil unions.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Cdl. Burke: Pope’s homosexual civil union remarks ‘contrary’ to Scripture, Tradition' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/cardinal-burke-on-popes-homosexual-civil-union-remarks-contrary-to-the-teaching-of-sacred-scripture-and-sacred-tradition
'Cardinal says Catholics ‘can and should’ disagree with Pope’s ‘opinion’ on gay civil unions' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/cdl.mueller-popes-words-on-gay-civil-unions-purely-private-expression-of-opinion-which-every-catholic-can-and-should-freely-contradict
'Archbishop Vigano, Bishops Tobin and Strickland respond to Pope’s approval of homosexual civil unions' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/archbishop-vigano-and-bishops-tobin-strickland-respond-to-popes-approval-of-homosexual-civil-unions
'Pope’s comments on gay civil unions cause shockwaves around the world' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/deepest-sadness-cardinal-burke-condemns-pope-franciss-remarks-supporting-civil-unions
Over the course of his pontificate, Francis has repeatedly signaled support for the homosexual lobby in the Vatican, elevating their chief spokesmen, like Fr. James Martin, to high-ranking positions in the Roman Curia and the Church hierarchy.
Just five months ago, in October, the Pope caused shockwaves around the world after it was revealed that he supported the creation of civil union laws for homosexual couples to have their relationships recognized in law. The move was widely seen as his clearest statement of public support for the practice, which is morally prohibited by official Catholic Church teaching.