“The Strength of Vocation”: Popes Francis’ "gift" for gays

The fragment about homosexuality in the new Francis’ book “The Strength of Vocation” (2018) moves itself against human rights, against scientific knowledge about homosexuality and against human dignity.

I have tree comments, but first of all we need a clarification about pope Francis’ homophobia. The pope Francis’ declaration in his new book is not a new position. He introduced the prohibition for the homosexual man to be priest in the law for all Catholic seminaries in 2016 (developed from Benedict’s homophobic law from 2005). What is really important is this law, not Francis’ book. This book in only “publicity” of this doctrine. The book only opens the eyes of the public opinion to the reality of gay persecution in the Catholic Church, but not introduces this persecution; this one already existed.

My three comments:

1. Religious discrimination of persons based on sexual orientation and gender identity

The Catholic position is a clear case of religious discrimination of persons based on sexual orientation and gender identity. From the point of view of human rights, we must say that this is an offence and a delict against human rights of homosexual people.

The Francis’ prohibition is clear: a gay person cannot be a priest, even when he has no sexual activity or relationship. The law is clear: even if he promises sexual abstinence for his whole life, he cannot be a priest. This is a persecution of sexual orientation. The Catholic doctrine and law define homosexuality as a psychological defect, and for this reason gays cannot be priests. It is coherent: the psychological ill person cannot be priest, but gays are not ill, as the Catholic doctrine wants.

2. Homophobic stigmatization of sexual minorities

Pope Francis says that he is “worried” about homosexuality, he is disturbed by the existence of homosexuality, and he is not interested in understanding the human sexuality. Gay people are “the origin of his anxiety and preoccupation”.  This is a clear expression of homophobic stigmatization of sexual minorities. This is the old method of social gay persecution, without physical violence (Catholic Church doesn’t promote death penalty for gays as Islamic law sharia does, but only “symbolic violence”). The Catholic Church presents the no-heterosexual orientation as a problem, as something wrong, not natural, ill, sinful. The words of pope Francis seem to be “soft”, but they are toxic because he has convinced people that gays are a problem. Very toxic and dangerous, if we think that there is a world leader speaking against human rights (with the support of the whole Catholic system of international diplomacy and with its political and social global influence). This aspect of the Catholic Church, as a political worldwide subject against human rights, must be especially remembered when on 10th December 2018 we commemorate the 70^th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It is really shameful that pope speaks about homosexuality as a “fashion” of this moment. That means that this fashion will pass in the future and homophobia will be normal again everywhere, as it was in the past. This is also the old method to stigmatize something that the Church wants to eliminate or neutralize. The pope Pius XII did the same thing. Regarding to the theory of evolution discovered in 1859 by Charles Darwin, ninety years later, in 1950, Pius XII forced Catholic Church to believe that the evolution was only a “fashion” that will pass in the future. It was only at the end of XX century that Vatican changed its mind.

So, regarding to homosexuality we must affirm that today Church’s position is not only dangerously irresponsible, but it a complete lack of confrontation with the current human knowledge about sexuality. We can strongly affirm that it is an institutional delict against human rights. 

3. Scientific ignorance

When pope Francis and generally Catholic Church speak about homosexuality, they show a complete lack of scientific knowledge about it. The Church doesn’t admit the concept of sexual orientation and talks about “tendencies”. Homosexuality is presented as effect of a personal choice or a sexual activity. The ignorance about homosexuality is substituted by prejudices and falsities. 

The obligation of gay and straight priests and all baptizes is disobeying this false and unjust imposition. There is no possibility of dialog or comprehension with positions against human rights and human dignity. When a well-known priest, who remains “in closet” and presents himself as defender of LGBT people, banalizes the pope’s errors and says that the pope wants only invite gay priests to “responsibility”, he seems as a layer well-based in the Catholic homophobic power-system and able to confuse Catholic gay people. We must know that the “responsibility” in the ecclesial language means the obligation of hiding homosexuality and this is the real victory of ecclesial homophobia, done with the help of false Catholic defenders of LGBTIQ human rights.