Is Pope Francis Equivocating On The Mortal Sin Of Homsexual Relations, Or...

Or is that merely wishful thinking on the part of some Cardinals??

I'm baffled by this article.  I truly hope this is more twisting of the Holy Father's words.  However, the progressive media can twist his words only as far as the words themselves are susceptible to such manipulation.  With the possible exception of the condom remark, I never heard Pope Benedict's words bandied about; that's because his words were crystal clear and thus did not lend themselves to distortion.

According to that article, His Holiness wants to stop condemning same-sex unions and instead "study them" - per Cardinal Dolan.  So we would should not condemn that sin, should not perform the Spiritual Works of Mercy such as "rebuke the sinner" and "instruct the ignorant", thus imperiling the souls of many?  Let's do a little word-substitution here.  Instead of "same-sex unions" let's say "child rape".  How about drunkedness?  Should we be silent and just "study" these too?  Really???

Below is a video of an interview with Cardinal Dolan.  At the 1:10 mark, His Eminence praises Pope Francis' "teaching style" of leaving "people wondering and guessing".  He calls it "wonderful", but I beg to differ.  Our Lord was very clear; He said "let your yes be 'yes" and your 'no' be no".  There was no ambiguity with Jesus Christ.  In a world already rife with deadly confusion, we need the Holy Father to clarify matters - not make them even more murky.  He then mentions that a teacher in the classroom might use that "strategy".  Well, that might work in a classroom with 20 or so students whom the teacher knows; when the "classroom" is full of billions of people, that "strategy" is at best a recipe for disaster.  I hope and pray that is all it is.  One might have thought that His Holiness would have seen the futility of that "strategy" by now.  Maybe he has - and has quite a different purpose.

At 4:15, His Eminence starts to spout the drivel (regarding same-sex unions) about the desire to "think about that and look into it and see the reasons that have driven them" and it's all "very sincere, open and nuanced"!  Got that?  At 4:29 His Eminence reassures us, "it wasn't as if he came out and approved them."  Well, Deo Gratias!  The Holy Father did not affirm mortal sin (at least not openly).  BUT - later at 11:12, His Eminence makes his scandalous remarks regarding Michael Sam, the athlete who "came out" as gay.  "Good for him"??  "Bravo"??  As that young man careens toward hell?  Make no mistake about it; barring repentance, Sam is flirting with eternal damnation.  Why cannot Cardinal Dolan at least reiterate the Magisterium's teaching on that matter?  Is that not why he was ordained?  How many other confused souls are now emboldened to pursue that sinful and dangerous lifestyle because of His Eminence's bumbling words?  Unfortunately, in the context of this entire interview, we may surmise that he is simply taking cues from Pope Francis' faulty words - or perhaps his own faulty interpretation of the Holy Father's remarks.

At 4:38 come more disastrous comments.  "Rather than quickly condemn them let's see, uh, let's just ask the questions as to why that is appealing.."        But..but, "it's the sensitivity that won the heart of the world"!  Our Lord had some choice words about "the heart of the world"; see John 15:18-25.  But I digress!

One bright spot occurs at 5:00 when His Eminence states that true marriage is not just a sacramental concern but the building block of society and culture at large.  He also seems to do a good job at deflecting some of the usual canards regarding the sex abuse crisis.  But then comes the bombshell at the 11:12 mark that I mentioned in a paragraph preceding this one.

Let's take a look at all this "studying".  Of course people have reasons for committing mortal sins.  The sins are still mortal and will lead to hell if those people do not repent asap.  Their reasons pale in comparison to the immense harm the sins bring upon them; in fact it can be said that any reasons proffered for the commission of mortal sin are irrelevant in light of the spiritual ramifications.  God's laws, including the Fifth and Sixth Commandments as well as His laws for marriage, do not allow for exceptions.  There are no "ifs, ands, buts" when it come to God's perfect laws.  Period.

So why all this "studying"?  This is not rocket science.  These matters are only complicated to those who wish to make them complicated, so that the fabricated complications can then become pseudo-excuses for disobedience to God's clear commands.  Ladies and gentlemen, do we smell that familiar stench of Situation Ethics?

If Cardinal Dolan is advocating that the clergy not speak out clearly against these moral evils, he is in fact the tempter urging that clergy turn their backs on their straying sheep to be devoured by wolves.  Those who flout God's laws regarding marriage endanger not only their own souls, but the souls of their accomplices in sin with whom they claim to be "in love".  If bishops and clergy do adopt positions of silence and cowardice, they imperil the souls of their flocks - and their own, for they must give answer to God.

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