What you are tackling from a philosophical and theological point of view, I intent to write about from a more practical sense, as soon as election news has died down.
Francis’s comments on civil unions have been misunderstood in two critical ways by the general American population and even by the population of liberal American Catholics.
First, Francis used civil unions in Argentina as a negotiating chip to fight against legal civil marriage. We forget that caveat at our peril. And his position was not a semantic one. The distinction that mattered to him as a cardinal was preventing same-sex couples from adopting and raising children. The civil union proposal he raised privately, if adopted instead of legal civil marriage, would have legally prevented civilly joined couples from raising children.
Second, when Francis speaks of family even now for LGBTQ people, he is not endorsing raising children. Vatican statements in recent days have made clear the Pope opposes the legal ability of same-sex couples to raise children together. When he speaks of civil unions, he speaks of civil unions without adopted children.
American liberal Catholics need to reign in their ecstasy. What the pope has proposed is actually horrifying. He continues to assert the power of his Church to interfere in the legal civil lives of LGBTQ people. He is in a real sense, facial expressions and nattering about love aside, a nasty homophobic bigot.
His assertion of the raw political power of the Church, of course, does not hurt Americans much, doesn’t touch most Europeans much. But ask Italians how vicious he is. Italian gay couples can’t adopt children, and Francis does not want them to be allowed to. In Italy, as far as LGBTQ people are concerned Francis is a force of oppression.
But where his power becomes more toxic is in the developing world, where he and his institution interfere strongly, constantly, and effectively in civil politics.
Same-sex couples all over the world lack the ability to form real families because Francis and his church want it that way. Fight effectively to keep it that way.
The unfortunate bit about all this recent foofaraw about the film Francis supporters in the Vatican made, is it it has pulled the wool over so many people’s eyes.
Once again, Americans and Europeans are swooning about what a wonderful, liberal human being Francis is.
The real truth is that he’s an effective, oppressive, repressive, homophobic piece of shit. And people not as privileged as American and Europeans suffer terribly because of it.
I’m sick and tired of liberal Americans thinking Pope Francis is a decent human being. His propaganda campaign has been very effective, and it’s time people expose his cruel policies and positions.
