Francis’ Rejection of Anti-LGBT Laws Has Serious Implications

David Martin | The Daily Knight

On January 25, law abiding citizens of Christendom were shocked when Pope Francis told Associated Press that “being homosexual is not a crime” and said that laws that criminalize sodomy are “unjust.” He said that Catholic bishops who support laws against homosexuality demonstrate a need for “conversion.”

“These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” Francis said. He is saying that bishops who support anti-LGBT laws need their head examined, and he didn’t say this to some private reporter but went right to the mega-phone of planet earth, Associated Press (AP), to make sure his words were heard everywhere.

Disregard for all Law

This raises serious concerns since it can extend to mean that Francis has no regard for any laws that penalize crime. For if one doesn’t support laws against sodomy, which is among the worst of crimes, why would he support laws against lesser crimes like adultery, theft, and fraud?

It can be logically inferred that Francis has no regard for any laws whatsoever, which is not far-fetched when we consider that he has spent his entire tenure casting aside the laws of God, namely, his words, doctrines, ordinances, commandments, i.e. the whole of tradition – all done of course under the pretext of mercy. For he seeks to stamp out the Mass of the Ages through his perfidious Traditionis Custodes forbidding the Traditional Latin Mass and has blessed adulterers with the privilege of being able to receive Holy Communion (AM 305), which contravenes Christ’s law forbidding adulterers from receiving Communion (1 Cor. 11: 27-29). Or in October 2019, he dignified the pagan idol Pachamama in St. Peter’s Basilica in defiance of Church law that forbids the blessing of idols.

Similarly, he has now blessed homosexuality by denouncing any legislation against it, even stressing that the Church must be involved with ending such laws. “It must do this. It must do this,” he said. This follows his previous statements of October 2020 when he said that civil laws should be enacted to protect homosexual unions. He indeed has dignified this crime by seeking to protect it by means of the law. What higher endorsement could he possibly show it? Has he forgotten the fierce punishment that befell Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality? Or the Eternal Father’s command that “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, because it is an abomination?” (Leviticus 18:22)

The Church Fathers Have Spoken on Homosexuality

It appears that Francis has forgotten the civil punishment that is due to homosexuals as taught by the saints and Church fathers. In defending the temporal punishment due to homosexual acts, St. Thomas Aquinas quotes St. Augustine as saying:

“Those foul offenses that are against nature should be everywhere and at all times detested and punished, such as were those of the people of Sodom, which should all nations commit, they should all stand guilty of the same crime, by the law of God which hath not so made men that they should so abuse one another.”

St. John Chrysostom echoed this call for some earthly punishment for homosexuals in his commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. He said of LGBT people:

“So, I say to you that they are even worse than murderers, and that it would be better to die than to live in such dishonor. A murderer only separates the soul from the body, whereas these destroy the soul inside the body.”

Worthy of Death

St. Paul is even more to the point by referring to homosexuals as shameful men who “have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy” and goes on to say that “they who do such things, are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them.” (Romans 1: 27,32)

Why is it that Francis doesn’t echo this truth in his teaching? Does he know more than the saints? Is he above the Savior who gave us this teaching? Certainly it’s not out of mercy that he omits this since mercy does not seek to entangled man in shameful vice. Mercy is all about deliverance, not about banishing souls to their eternal prison.

Pontifical Pacifism

The pontificate of Francis is without doubt the most errant of history, but much of this errancy is rooted in the pacifist idea that God accepts us as we are. He coined it thus in his interview with AP: “God loves us as we are.” From day-one he has echoed this by telling gays that God loves and accepts them as they are, but who ever told him this? Since when does God accept us as we are?

Has Francis considered the teaching of St. Paul?:

“Know you this and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person (which is a serving of idols), has inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." (Ephesians 5:5)

Or what about the warning of Christ that those who merely neglect good works “shall go into everlasting punishment?” (Matthew 25: 46) The Savior said that “if you will not forgive men [their offences], neither will your Father forgive you your offences" (Mt. 6:15), so if man is barred from the Kingdom for refusing to forgive his brother, what can we say of those modernists who refuse to forgive the Tradition of the Catholic Church?

Nay, God will accept us as we are when what we are is what He created us to be, namely, the dedicated sons and daughters of God (1 Thess. 4:3) who “fear God, and depart from evil.” (Proverbs 3:7) But those who peddle sin in the name of mercy will be judged as deceivers.

Mega Scandal

Francis latest endorsement of LGBT living has disastrous and far-reaching ramifications since people everywhere now understand that the head of Christendom supports this shameful lifestyle. Francis needs to repent and clean house or lose it eternally.