Catholic Homophobia and a Pope’s Propaganda

Catholic colonialism hurts LGBTQ people

I delayed this story about Pope Francis’s homophobia until after the U.S. elections

That I had to write that sentence is part of the story I need to tell, a story you might not want to hear if you’re a liberal American or European Catholic. But we LGBTQ people need your help. LGBTQ people in the developing world need it desperately.

Remember the uproar on October 23 when a film screened at a festival in Rome seemed to show Pope Francis endorsing same-sex civil unions and LGBTQ families?

Homosexuals have a right to be part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. — Pope Francis

LGBTQ people all over the world celebrated as mainstream media reported a “stunning softening” of the Church’s anti-LGBTQ views. The Washington Post gushed, calling Francis’s remarks a “break from the Catholic Church’s official teaching [that] mark his clearest support to date for the issue.” The New York Times rushed to scoop with a breathlessly misleading headline and a story so poorly reported that much of it matched word for word the same press release I received from a Catholic news agency.

Even queer news sources like Out, The Advocate, and LGBTQ Nation rushed to praise the pope for his kind words and thawing attitude.

The trouble with the story is that almost none of it was true

When I received the press release on Oct 23, I got excited … for about 2 minutes. The more closely I read, the more I felt like muttering, “Nothing to see here, move along.”

Then my phone started buzzing with over-hyped headlines.

I sighed and got to work, looking for relevant quotes and cites to back up the obvious. Within a couple hours, I published a story claiming Francis had not announced even the tiniest doctrinal reform and had signaled zero change in Church practice. What’s more, he gave no indication he ever would.

The whole world wants to believe the Catholic Church is dropping its hatred of LGBTQ people

In 2013, shortly after Pope Francis assumed office, he made his celebrated “who am I to judge” statement about gay people. The world jumped to the conclusion that he would be progressive on issues of gender and sexuality. People want so desperately to believe in his liberalism they overlook his own words about how much of a traditionalist he is.

He has continued to issue occasional, vague statements some people insist indicate that a real thaw is coming, that “progress” is happening.

But the pope’s vagueness sugarcoats harsh doctrine. Drilling down to his core beliefs yields a solid answer to the question about about who will judge: He will because Catholic doctrine tells him to. He will weaponize traditional Catholic teachings against LGBTQ people whether they are Catholic or not.

To misquote Roosevelt, he will speak softly while beating us about the head and shoulders with a big stick.

Did I lose you with that sentence?

Are you angry now and determined to stop reading? Hang on, this is where it starts to matter the most. Please bear with me for one more section before you stop reading and start cursing me?

Pope Francis is determined to use Church political power to stop LGBTQ families

I’m not a Catholic now, but I was born, baptized, and briefly educated as one. Much of my huge Irish clan is Catholic. As a former Catholic, I don’t WANT to care about Catholic doctrine. I don’t like that it condemns and stigmatizes me, but like millions of former Catholics, I can’t just shrug and forget about it.

The Church won’t let me.

People make their own spiritual and religious choices that are none of my business. I could cry foul for countless LGBTQ teens who lack meaningful choice about their religious upbringing, but let’s take that off the table. As a non-Catholic, I SHOULD NOT have to care about Catholic doctrine and practice.

If Catholic priests and bishops were content to minister to their flocks and evangelize non-Catholics, I could stop caring. If Catholic homophobia were limited to theology and doctrine, I wouldn’t even pay attention.

But as an LGBTQ advocate, I HAVE to pay attention, because the Catholic Church and Pope Francis have made clear they will continue to exercise political power to hurt me and the people I love.

The Church and Francis personally have fought to stop genuine civil marriage not just for Catholics but for all human beings. They have exercised political power to stop same-sex civil unions that are functionally equivalent to civil marriage. (Or even close.)

In many parts of the world, they have met with stunning success.

The function of civil unions Francis most opposes is the right of queer families to adopt and/or raise children. He doesn’t just oppose that for Catholics. He has fought hard to stop all human beings, regardless of faith status, from raising children if they are in same-sex relationships.

Please note that I am not talking about Catholic marriages. I’m talking about ALL civil marriage. I’m not talking only about Catholic couples, I’m talking about all couples — protestant, atheist, buddhist, muslim, hindu, or sikh.

I think almost everyone can agree that Catholic clerics must never work to infringe the civil liberties of any human being, and most especially not the liberties of non-Catholics.

If you can’t agree with that, now is probably the time to stop reading and start cursing. The rest of this story is not for you. Everybody else? Pull up a chair and let’s continue.

The quote that took the world by storm

“Homosexuals have a right to be part of the family,” Pope Francis said in “Francesco,” the documentary about his life that premiered in Rome on Oct 23. “They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it.”

He added, “What we have to create is a civil union law. That way, they are legally covered. I stood up for that [in Argentina.]”

Sigh.

That quote is propaganda that doesn’t mean what you probably think it means. In Argentina, Francis (then Cardinal Bergoglio) fought a vicious public campaign to stop civil marriage for all same-sex couples, Catholic or otherwise. When it became obvious he was going to lose, he privately offered up a compromise of “civil unions” that did not include adoption or parental rights.

The civil marriage law passed despite Francis’s attempt to sabotage it with a cheap substitute.

When I originally wrote about the film, I presented that history, plus evidence that Francis continued to believe same-sex couples should not legally be permitted to raise children together.

A few other writers also cried foul, but most of them got shouted down like I did — as kill joys and naysayers. Then reports emerged from conservative Catholic sources that the filmmakers had quoted Francis out of context. More critical stories began to appear in the mainstream press, not that many people read them.

On November 2, the Vatican issued a quiet retraction

If you’re like most of the world, you probably never saw the Vatican retraction that erased any cause for celebration among LGBTQ people. As the American elections were kicking off, the Vatican explained what the pope really meant.

Parents should not kick gay kids out of the house. That’s it, that’s all. Move along, nothing to see here.

From an Associated Press story analyzing the Vatican statement:

“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said. “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.”

Francis’ comments about gays having the right to be in a family referred to parents with gay children, and the need for them to not kick their children out or discriminate against them.

Francis was not endorsing the right of gay couples to adopt children.

Propaganda versus progress

Have you heard of the fallacy of progress? It’s a human thinking error prevalent in contemporary times that leads us to believe progress (change over time) is always beneficial to humanity. The reality is that progress often brings detrimental or neutral changes.

Lots of people seem invested in believing Francis’s wishy washy statements represent “incremental progress” toward more humane treatment of LGBTQ people. Liberal Americans and Europeans (many of them Catholic or former Catholic) seem especially heavily invested in this evidence-free notion.

Francis seems invested in encouraging that belief, no matter how untrue it is.

If Francis intends to liberalize the Church to the extent that it stops flexing its powerful political muscles against LGBTQ people, he has never said so. He absolutely did not say so on October 23, even though most of you probably think he did.

This issue might not matter much to Americans and Europeans. We believe (rightly or wrongly) that our civil institutions are largely immune from Church political meddling.

Catholic anti-LGBTQ political interference is immoral colonialism

LGBTQ people all over Latin America and Africa, however, know first hand how much political power the all-male Catholic bishopry wield there, and just how ruthless they are enforcing Church doctrine against members of gender and sexual minorities.

Francis did so personally in Argentina, and his bishops continue anti-LGBTQ campaigns all over the globe. Privileged Americans and Europeans must wake up and recognize Francis’s LGBTQ persecution for the immoral colonialism it is.

Don’t be distracted by the Pope’s vague statements and propaganda. He is no friend of LGBTQ people.

If you are a Catholic, please help us. Please apply as much financial and moral pressure as you can to help Catholic leaders understand homophobia is unacceptable and intolerable.

James Finn is a former Air Force intelligence analyst, long-time LGBTQ activist, an alumnus of Queer Nation and Act Up NY, an essayist occasionally published in queer news outlets, and an “agented” novelist. Send questions, comments, and story ideas to [email protected].