HONG KONG (SE): The Diocesan Committee on Sexual Plurality Culture organised an online talk on November 6 to clarify that the Church’s teaching on same sex marriage remains unchanged after the documentary, Francesco, about the life and teaching of Pope Francis caused some controversy. “You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered,” the pope says in film.
Released on October 21, the documentary by Russian filmmaker, Evgeny Afineevsky, includes a 20-second clip of the pope, who, while commenting on same sex civil unions, said homosexual individuals “have the right to be in a family. They are children of God.”
According to a report in Crux on November 2, the pope’s remarks were not made in a new interview for the documentary, as Afineevsky claimed, but actually came from a 2019 interview with Mexican journalist, Valentina Alazraki.
The report said that a letter was sent from the Vatican to bishops’ conferences around the world on October 30 saying that the pope’s words were taken out of context and that his position does not constitute a change in Church teaching on the issue.
The letter said Pope’s Francis’ comment was a reference “to the pastoral need that, within the family, a son or daughter with a homosexual orientation should never be discriminated against.” The letter then made reference to paragraph 250 of Francis’s 2016 post-synodal exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which states that “every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration.”
It explained that the pope’s remarks about civil cohabitation were made in another interview about the rights of homosexual people to have certain legal protection.
During the online seminar, Father Dominic Lui Chi-man, explained that the Church regards everyone as God’s children, but it does not accept same sex marriage on certain grounds. Quoting from Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, a document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2003 he pointed out that same sex unions are not able to contribute in a proper way to the procreation and survival of the human race.
The document also said that the absence of sexual complementarity in these unions creates obstacles in the normal development of children who would be deprived of the experience of either fatherhood or motherhood. Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children.
Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, chairperson of the Diocesan Committee on Sexual Plurality Culture, said there are many reasons behind Catholic principles. For example, marriage between man and women ensures sexual complementarity in a family, and the Church should help people understand. He said the Church has to journey with homosexual people with empathy, adding that even in countries where same sex marriage is legalised, homosexual people are under a lot of pressure, not only from people around them, but also from themselves.
Peter Ho Man-hong, assistant executive secretary of the Diocesan Pastoral Commission for Marriage and the Family, said both love and doctrines are needed as the Church deals with the pastoral care of homosexuals.
He said homosexual people may find the Church or its teachings too remote from their daily lives, so the Church should reach out to them instead of waiting for them to come.
The pastoral commission offers group discussion sessions for homosexuals to offer emotional, spiritual and community support. At the same time, it also approaches their parents and reminds them not to reject them and that they are their children whatever the circumstances.
