Response to Media Reports: Statements in Pope Francis' recently released documentary

To the Faithful of the Archdiocese of Nassau
 

Beloved in Christ,

On Wednesday, October 21, 2020 international media reports circulated regarding statements made by Pope Francis on the subject of civil unions for same-sex couples.

Pope Francis is reported to have said, "What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered." (The New York Times)

"They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable because of it." (NBC News)

These statements by Pope Francis were taken from a documentary on him which premiered in Rome this past Wednesday. These statements are translations from the original language of the documentary and that must be taken into account.

While we are aware of these media reports, we note that no official statement has been made by the Holy See about them up to this time.

The context of these remarks is the pastoral care of LGBTQ persons. This is characteristic of the pastoral style of Pope Francis who seeks to include and to accompany all persons within the pastoral care of the Church.

These statements by no means represent any change or modification in the Church's understanding of marriage which it holds to a be a sacrament.

The Church teaches the following regarding marriage:

"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament." (CCC 1601, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World #48)

Proposing laws for the protection of those in same-sex civil unions neither changes the Church's teaching on marriage nor its teaching on homosexuality and by no means does it devalue the Sacrament of Marriage.

Rather it seeks to ensure that society, through its laws, respects the dignity of all, including those of the LGBTQ community.

This spirit of inclusion and pastoral care for everyone, so characteristic of the approach of Pope Francis, is quite clear in his most recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti: On Fraternity and Social Friendship. He cites the parable of The Good Samaritan as a model for social relationships marked by the "flavor of the Gospel." He states: "The parable shows us how a community can be rebuilt by men and women who identify with the vulnerability of others, who reject the creation of a society of exclusion and act instead as neighbors... for the sake of the common good." #67
 

Devotedly yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Patrick C. Pinder, S.T.D., C.M.G. K.C.*H.S.

Archbishop of Nassau