2003 from Ratzinger:
"In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty."
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Today from Magister:
"Fernández explains the reserve of the then-archbishop of Buenos Aires:
"There were sectors that were putting a strong emphasis on doctrinal certainty, on the honor of the Church and its self-preservation, and that felt that they were represented by few ecclesial authorities. The sectors that had a plan even slightly different from these latter, like Cardinal Bergoglio and many others, were very respectful of these choices, or at the very least met them with silence.”
...
On February 22, 2011, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Bernardini delivered a homily that was interpreted by almost everyone as a harangue in defense of Benedict XVI but in reality was a concerted attack on Bergoglio.
The nuncio placed under accusation those priests, religious, and above all those bishops who were keeping a “low profile” and leaving the pope alone in the public battle in defense of the truth.
"We have to acknowledge," he said, “that there has increased year after year, among theologians and religious, among sisters and bishops, the group of those who are convinced that belonging to the Church does not entail the recognition of and adherence to an objective doctrine.”
...
In 2010, at the height of the episcopate's battle of to block the legalization of marriage between persons of the same sex in Argentina, there emerged the idea of holding a prayer vigil [in front of parliament]. Esteban Pittaro, of the 'Università Australe of Opus Dei, sent an e-mail to the chancery of Buenos Aires, telling them about the event. The following day he saw that he had missed a phone call and realized that it was a number of the archdiocese.
Esteban called back and Bergoglio answered in person. 'It seems like a wonderful thing to me that you should pray. But the fact that you want to spend all night in the plaza . . . It will be cold, go home, pray at home, as a family!” the cardinal told him. 'He supported the march, but he was right to discourage the vigil, because the following day there were demonstrations in fa for of homosexual marriage. And he wanted to avoid the contrast,' Pittaro recounts.”
The then-archbishop of Buenos Aires could not bear the “obsessive rigidity” of certain churchmen on questions of sexual morality. “He was convinced,” writes Elisabetta Piqué, " that the worst thing would be to insist and seek out conflict on these issues.”
Are we really still wondering about this?
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Interesting. Archbishop Bergoglio is portrayed by one of his own proteges as a man who was keenly (even excessively) sensitive to public opinion, and who attempted to shape perceptions in a particular way.
ReplyDeleteReading between the lines, it seems likely that under the previous papacies, the Archbishop was not able to give free rein to this inclination. But now that he's in charge, he's under no such constraints. Or any constraints at all, for that matter.
It certainly puts all those "spontaneous" and "humble" gestures of the past year in a different light.