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Fr. James Martin, SJ

October 31, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin has partnered with the head of the nation’s most powerful pro-LGBT organization to laud Pope Francis’ apparent support for same-sex civil unions. 

Martin again joined forces with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to nudge the Catholic Church toward the normalization and full acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism.  

In an opinion piece published by Religion News Service, Martin and HRC head Alphonso David wrote: 

In a significant step for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis signaled his support for civil unions for same-sex couples in a documentary released last week. This is the first time Pope Francis has so clearly and so publicly recognized the value of civil legal protections for same-sex couples. 

The duo view Francis’ affirmation of same-sex civil unions not as an abberation or a new thing, but as part of a trajectory established long before his pontificate began:

As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis (then Jorge Mario Bergoglio) made similar statements in private. Later, as pope, he mentioned these legal protections in subtle ways in books, interviews and press conferences, but never as clearly as in the new documentary, “Francesco,” which includes comments on civil unions taken from an interview with a Mexican journalist last year.

“Underlying Francis’ statement is his own long history decrying homophobia and calling for LGBTQ people to be treated with respect and dignity,” observed Martin and Alphonso. “Signaling support for civil protections is but an extension of his overall pastoral ministry to LGBTQ people, which is attempting to reconcile church teaching on human dignity and nondiscrimination with church practice.”

Earlier this year, Martin redefined the meaning of Lent in an HRC interview, declaring that Lent is “a time for people to engage more deeply with LGBT people,” and suggested employing Lenten “spiritual exercises” in the form of questions for Catholics, focusing not on their relationship with Jesus Christ, but on their relationships with LGBT persons.

However, contrary to Martin’s relentless proclamations, the Catholic Church does not fail to respect the dignity of those with same-sex attraction. Rather, it treats all human beings with equal respect and dignity.

The Jesuit has long sought to undermine clergy and laity who continue to embrace the Church’s wisdom and best pastoral practices regarding same-sex attraction, asserting at the 2018 World Meeting of Families that “most L.G.B.T. Catholics have been deeply wounded by the church.”

Martin used his platform at the Vatican-run gathering of Catholics to brazenly lobby for the Church to normalize homosexuality and transgenderism, going as far as urging the pastors to invite self-identifying LGBT individuals to serve as Eucharistic ministers.

Martin’s record of pro-gay activism is lengthy and ranges from his many speeches and media appearances promoting homosexuality to his retweeting of a complaint that priests can’t “bless” gay unions to suggesting that the Church is full of “homophobia” and “marginalizes” the same-sex attracted.

He supports gay men kissing each other during the sign of peace at Mass, says that a Catholic attending a same-sex “wedding” is like attending a Jewish wedding, and suggests that his critics are secretly gay themselves.

Fr. Martin says homosexual priests should “come out” about their sexual proclivities, but has publicly declined to say whether he himself is gay.

The Catholic Church teaches that God created humans as “male and female” and gave them to each other in marriage so they could “increase and multiply.” Sexual attraction and sexual acts between a man and a woman are specifically created by God for the purpose of procreation.

The Catholic Church is logical and consistent in teaching that homosexual acts are “acts of grave depravity” and “intrinsically disordered” since they are “contrary to the natural law” in that they “close the sexual act to the gift of life.”

“They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Church also teaches that same-sex attraction is “objectively disordered” since God created members of the opposite sex to be attracted to one another for the sake of procreation.

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