American Cardinal Takes Massive Stand Against Liberal Pope
The American Cardinal of the Catholic church, Raymond Leo Burke, had a few words to say about Pope Francis’ stance concerning the way homosexuals are treated.
Some will be thrilled — many will be furious.
Not only did he disagree with Pope Francis, he publicly made a statement to contradict him — an act of huge importance within the Catholic church when it comes to the pope.
In a December interview with O Clarim, Burke discussed the pope’s comments on apologizing to homosexuals.
“In an in-flight interview, after the umpteenth question about homosexuals, the Holy Father (Pope Francis) said that we obviously must not discriminate and we have to ask forgiveness from these people for the way they are treated…,” the interview question began.
“I haven’t read the Pope’s text,” Burke responded.
“What I can say is that this year I turned 69, and I have spent my whole life in the Catholic Church. I have never encountered discrimination against people who suffer from the homosexual condition.”
Whoa.
He then went from one jaw-dropping statement right into another.
“We know that we are dealing with an abnormal condition: God has not created us to have sexual relations with people of the same sex,” Burke said.
“This is not a discrimination against persons. It is to affirm the truth of Christ, the truth of our faith.”
What he is saying is that Catholics are obligated to follow their own doctrine — which, of course they are.
Even aside from the biblical arguments to be made for or against homosexuality, the Catholic stance is made crystal clear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared 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.” (2357)
The Catholic stance really isn’t up for debate.
“I must say sincerely, even though I haven’t read the words of the Pope, that I don’t see why the Church ought to ask forgiveness for teaching the truth about sex and sexuality,” Burke said.
“Rather, during my priesthood of more than 42 years, I have always found priests very compassionate in meetings with people who have had this difficulty and have suffered from this condition,” he concluded.
I doubt that this will see much attention from the media — it speaks a little too pointedly at a pontiff who has been doing leftists favors for years with his rhetoric.
It’s amazing to see a cardinal stand for consistency of his own religion over political correctness.
H/T CNSnews.com
What do you think about this story? Please share this story on Facebook and Twitter and let us know!
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
