Catholic-gay Connection: how to promote homosexuality

That Avvenire is leading the Catholic-gay crusade isn’t even news anymore. But to open a page of the newspaper of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference) and find the banner headline “Zuppi: homosexuals? Diversity is enriching”, makes quite an impact, also because it is an affirmation that implies there is almost a need for homosexuality, given that without it we would be poorer. This is in stark contrast with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and with tradition. Suffice it to recall that the Catechism indicates sodomy among the four “sins that cry out to heaven”, a modernised descriptor compared to “sins that cry out for revenge before God”, which was previously in use.

But there is more to that page: the statements of the Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, are part of the preface-interview to the book by the journalist from Avvenire Luciano Moia (who has made the Catholic-gay crusade his mission) entitled Church and Homosexuality. An inquiry in the light of the Magisterium of Pope Francis. It explains that in the book there is space for a series of interviews created from the insert of Avvenire called “We, family and life” published at the turn of 2018 and 2019, which obviously all point in the same direction. And the preface by the editor of Avvenire, Marco Tarquinio, also gives the stamp of approval. So, the work is not simply the fruit of a journalist's personal interest, but a real and actual operation that catalyses around the official body of the CEI theologians, psychologists, a cardinal considered in the Pope's pocket and expected to be the next president of the CEI, and the publisher San Paolo, a pillar of Catholic publishing.

In any case the interview with Cardinal Zuppi is enough to highlight the lies and ambiguities that a certain clericalism uses to promote homosexual lifestyles. After all, let’s not forget, Cardinal Zuppi had already signed the preface to Father James Martin's book “Building a Bridge - A new relationship between Church and LGBT people”, a true manifesto of (self-styled) Catholic homosexualism.

First issue: it gives the idea that until Amoris Laetitia the only attitude of the Church towards people with homosexual tendency was one of condemnation and marginalisation. Until, finally, the advent of the Church of Francis changed everything, taking into account people and not abstract rules. This is clearly a lie in pursuit of the desired agenda. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, for example, a clear distinction is made between the person who presents certain tendencies and homosexual acts. But it is precisely this distinction that they want to erase, so that acceptance of the person becomes initially tolerance and then the acceptance also of the acts.

In this regard we must recall the precise and detailed document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (signed by the then Prefect Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) “on the pastoral care of homosexual persons”, dated 1 October 1986. No wonder Gionata, the main internet portal of Catholic LGBT groups in Italy, defines the document as “infamous”, precisely because the understanding of people it refers to, does not include acceptance of homosexual acts.

And no wonder Avvenire never mentions this document, perhaps also because there is an explicit denunciation of a gay lobby within the Church that aims to subvert the teaching of the Church in matters of sexual morality. An exact photograph of what the CEI newspaper is.

So, pastoral attention to people with homosexual tendencies was there well before the current pontificate. What changes with Amoris Laetitia is instead the judgment on homosexual acts, in the sense that it opens up a possibility for their acceptance, as demonstrated by the activism of Moia and Avvenire to promote homosexuality.

Second issue: in the conception expressed by Zuppi and Moia there is no objective truth, everything depends on context and personal history. And God's will becomes ad personam. “That of God, in fact, is a Will embodied in the history of the person, it is His will that fulfils ours”, says the Archbishop of Bologna, and adds: “The fullness of God's will for one person is not the same for others”. The practical consequence of such an approach is that the consummation of homosexual acts can be a sin for one person but can be a vocation for another. The important thing is “to enter into a relationship with God”, says Zuppi. But the obvious question that arises is this: why should this subjectivist criterion apply only to homosexuality? Just to remain in the field of sexual orientation, why shouldn't it also apply to paedophilia or zoophilia and so on?

Third issue: this supposedly great sense of welcome and mercy that is shown when we talk about homosexuals, actually ignores the reality of the people who experience this condition, with their discomfort, fragility and needs. And very often the desire to rediscover their sexuality in line with nature. Instead, the arguments of the LGBT movement claim homosexuality and transsexuality as natural variants of sexuality and therefore their full legitimacy are accepted, attributing to the homophobia of the surrounding environment the possible discomfort of individuals. This campaign conducted in the Church pays absolutely no attention to people but only listens to the “syndicate” claims of ideologically organised groups.

Fourth issue: it is obvious that the logical consequence of this approach leads to the legitimisation of gay unions. Nothing new, in different parts of Europe - and also in Italy - we have seen priests and bishops support the need for a liturgy for gay couples. On a specific question, Cardinal Zuppi was cautious, arguing that it can be accepted even without “justifying” it, but more than the cardinal's fuzzy response, the way Moia introduces the subject is important. After all, it was the editor of Avvenire himself who, at the time of the Cirinnà Bill, maintained that stable homosexual unions are good for society.

So no one should be surprised by the next step.