VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis met Wednesday with a large LGBT group at the end of his general audience, with both parties agreeing in their efforts to build a “hospital Church that excludes no one.”
Around 110 members of the dissident Italian LGBT group “La Tenda di Gionata” (Jonathan’s tent) met with Pope Francis September 21, at the conclusion of his weekly general audience. The group consisted of “LGBT + Christians, their parents and the pastoral workers who accompany them (priests, nuns and consecrated persons),” according to the group.
È iniziata l’udienza in Vaticano al termine della quale i cristiani LGBT, i loro genitori e gli operatori incontreranno papa Francesco pic.twitter.com/nwDDUhDPkb
— Progetto Gionata (@gionatanews) September 21, 2022
L’Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference, reported that the 110-member group was wearing t-shirts adorned with “rainbow hearts” and the message “in love there is no fear” – a version of the words of St. John’s epistle: “Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain.” (1 Jn 4:18)
One woman, Francesca, a lesbian, attended the meeting with her “partner” and handed Pope Francis a number of letters from parents of “LGBT children.”
“I knelt down but he immediately signaled to pick me up,” she told La Stampa. Her “partner” added that “meeting the Pope is a confirmation of the journey of faith that will lead us to civil union.”
The pair told L’Avvenire that in their local parish in the Archdiocese of Modena-Nonantola, they “show up as a couple, without flaunting anything but also without hiding.”
The group also presented Francis with two books of LGBT “testimonies.”
The meeting is not included on the livestream video uploaded to the Vatican News YouTube account, but pictures can be found on the Vatican Media site.
Writing about the meeting afterwards, one of the group wrote that she was “aware that a man, with all his holiness, risen to be pope, could single-handedly have the power to erase the sin of the Magisterium Church towards LGBTI+ people, is only a naive hope.”
“We cannot leave him alone” in the promotion of LGBT ideology, wrote Anna Battaglia, whose son lives as a homosexual.
https://t.co/1mV1yqlect La stampa: Vaticano, i cristiani omosessuali incontrano Papa Francesco: “Non siamo più figli di un Dio minore” pic.twitter.com/H5QGzG6TKy
— Progetto Gionata (@gionatanews) September 21, 2022
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While Battaglia denounced the Church’s approach to the LGBT movement as “sin,” L’Avvenire welcomed the fact that Francis’ pontificate was effecting a change in mentality towards the movement. The paper read: “Today, fortunately, thanks precisely to Pope Francis, his reflections on the subject and, above all, Amoris laetitia, the situation is changing just about everywhere.”
The group was accompanied by Father Gianluca Carrega, who coordinates the LGBT outreach for the Archdiocese of Turin. Carrega thanked Francis for Amoris Laetitia, saying that the document “encourages us as LGBT pastoral workers to move forward.”
Carrega reportedly encouraged Francis to continue building a “hospitable Church that excludes no one,” to which Francis nodded. The priest later told La Stampa that he addressed the Pope saying:
Your Holiness, you have two hands. With one you show us the way and with the other protect us, because there is still prejudice and unjust discrimination of LGBT people in the Church.
***MAJOR UPDATE, November 10, 2022*** LifeSiteNews reported the bombshell statement issued by Archbishop Viganò, declaring that members of the “Bergoglian church” are no longer in union with the Church of Christ.
According to Archbishop Viganò:
the visible church, to which the world gives the name of Catholic Church and of which it considers Bergoglio as Pope, is no longer Church...
This statement was long overdue, and Archbishop Viganò is finally sounding the alarm — Pope Francis is leading the Church into something radically different than the Church established by Christ. Pope Francis cannot continue betraying the faithful by abdicating his duty as Universal Shepherd.
The time to redouble our efforts and fervently request that Pope Francis repent and be reconciled with the Church is NOW.
SIGN and SHARE. Defend the Church and demand that Pope Francis faithfully uphold the authentic Catholic faith!
Bishops from across the world have raised concern over Pope Francis' unfaithfulness to the 2,000+ years of Catholic teaching, and the recent statement by Archbishop Viganò is truly the breaking point into a new era for faithful Catholics.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT FROM LIFESITENEWS AND SIGN THIS PETITION TO DEFEND THE CHURCH NOW.
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Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Fr. James Altman, and two dozen more faithful Catholic priests & scholars are publicly calling out Pope Francis for his outrageous, dangerous, and heretical teaching concerning reception of Holy Communion.
Pope Francis stated that "faith" is the only requirement for those who wish to receive Holy Communion in his June 29 Apostolic Letter on the liturgy, Desiderio desideravi.
This statement is dangerous because:
- The Council of Trent explicitly anathematized those who make this claim calling it 'heresy'
- Pope Francis omitted the essential step of repentance for sin to worthily receive the Eucharist.
- Pope Francis is thereby allowing the faithful to eat and drink condemnation on themselves, should they receive Holy Communion unworthily
- Pope Francis is supporting moral relativism, eradicating the clear distinction between good and evil
- Pope Francis is eradicating the need for the Sacrament of Confession
- Pope Francis is damaging the teaching office of the Church by sowing doubt and division among faithful Catholics
But there is a way to stop Pope Francis' modernist attack and defend the true Catholic teaching on Holy Communion.
Catholics everywhere must renounce Pope Francis' heresy and uphold the truth: only Baptized Catholics in the state of grace, and therefore free of mortal sin, can receive Holy Communion*.
For those in mortal sin, repentance and absolution must first be sought in the Sacrament of Confession before receiving the Eucharist*.
Pope Francis' statement would mislead many souls, which is why we need your help today to stand with Bishop Strickland, Fr. Altman, Bishop Schneider, and more.
TELL POPE FRANCIS: HOLY COMMUNION CAN ONLY BE RECEIVED IN THE STATE OF GRACE!
The growing list of faithful Catholics who are standing for the truth and bravely resisting Pope Francis' attempt to dilute the Church's moral authority is only growing. This is great news, but the news can't simply stop with you.
You must join the growing list of supporters to but a STOP to Pope Francis' heresy.
WATCH: LifeSiteNews' co-CEO and Editor-in-Chief, John-Henry Westen, fully breaks down the growing list of faithful Catholics choosing to resist Pope Francis' attack on the faith.
Stand with these faithful Catholics: Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop André Gracida, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, Father Gerald E. Murray, Father James Altman, Father John Lovell, Professor Claudio Pierantoni, Dr. John Lamont, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Professor Anna Silvas, Dr. Anthony Esolen, Professor John Rist, Professor Paolo Pasqualucci, Julia Meloni, George Neumayr, and LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen.
*However, if a Catholic is unable to attend Confession but has a grave reason for receiving the Eucharist (such as a priest who may be required to celebrate Mass at a given time but who is unable to go to Confession), such a person must be confident to the best of his ability that he have perfect contrition for any mortal sins that he may have committed before receiving Holy Communion in an exceptional situation.
MORE INFORMATION:
Full statement by Catholic bishops and scholars correcting Pope Francis' heresy - LifeSiteNews
Founded in 2018, La Tenda di Gionata promotes “ever more sanctuaries of welcome and support toward LGBT people and any person affected by discrimination.”
Wednesday’s meeting marks the fifth public occasion that Pope Francis has met with a group advocating for LGBT ideology. In June, Francis met a transgender group, one of whom – a man now living as a woman – claimed the Pope told him to “always be myself.”
Six weeks later, he then received the transgender group for the fourth time this year.
Pope Francis has apparently been making an increased number of such “important messages” to the LGBT movement in recent months. During a private audience in May, Francis allegedly told dissident U.S. activist and professor Aaron Bianco, who is in a same-sex “marriage,” to continue his efforts to make the Church more open to homosexual unions.
But Francis does so in contradiction to the Catholic Tradition. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) 1986 document “On the pastoral care of homosexual persons,” states that a “truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin.”
READ: The ‘Synodal Way’ wants to reverse Catholic teaching on homosexuality. Here’s why that’s impossible
The Catechism of the Catholic Church #2357 also teaches that: “‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”