July 29, 2013, Monday — A memorable press conference
Pope Francis gave a memorable press conference yesterday on the airplane which brought him back from Brazil to Rome. (Here is a photo of Pope Francis with some of the 65 journalists on the airplane heading back to Rome.)
Speaking to journalists for about 80 minutes, Francis was startlingly candid on many issues, but his remarks on homosexuality, priests with homosexual tendencies, and a “gay lobby” in the Vatican, raised the most eyebrows.
The Pope’s remarks were quickly were reported in hundreds of media outlets and web sites around the world. So there is nothing “new” in what I am sending here. But some of you may not have had the full context of these remarks, so it seems useful to send on to you an email sent out on behalf of the Vatican Press Office by Father Tom Rosica, of the Salt and Light Television Network of Toronto, Canada, which gives the full text of this portion of the Pope’s remarks.
One “takeaway” from the Pope’s remarks is that Pope Francis continues to support Monsignor Battista Ricca as his choice (the appointment was announced on June 15) to be the Prelate of the Vatican’s “bank” (the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR).
Since then, a series of recent articles by Italian Vaticanist Sandro Magister, who writes for Itlay’s l’Espresso magazine, have alleged that Ricca’s file was “sanitized” by Vatican superiors friendly to him, and that allegedly damaging reports on Ricca’s behavior 12 and 13 years ago in Uruguay, when Ricca served in the Vatican nunciature in Montevideo, were removed. Magister has presented the content of some of these allegedly removed reports, and more than once has suggested in print that Francis would now decide to remove Ricca in the light of this new information. But the Pope, answering a direct question about the matter, said he has examined Ricca’s file and still supports Ricca.
Also, Pope Francis said in the interview that the date for the canonization of Blessed Pope John Paul II has not been set. He said there are concerns that Polish pilgrims may find Polish roads in December “too icy” to travel on safely. One date being considered is November 27, 2013, a bit earlier than a December date, and another is the Feast of Divine Mercy in the spring of 2014.
Here is the email circulated by Father Rosica:
RIO DE JANEIRO
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
In response to many messages and calls earlier today regarding Pope Francis’ meeting with journalists aboard the return flight to Rome from Rio de Janeiro last night, I have received the full working transcript of his remarks from Fr. Lombardi.
Since most of your questions relate to his response to the question about Monsignor Ricca and the gay lobby, I have done a working translation of the question and the full answer of the Pope.
I have also included the original Italian transcription and the full paragraph from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on homosexuality to which the Pope referred.
The powerful and deeply moving visit of Pope Francis to Brazil last week left a deep and lasting impression upon this country as well as on the continent and the entire world. We encountered in the Bishop of Rome a shepherd “who knows the odor of his sheep,” a bearer of hope and peace, and an extraordinary pastoral model of tenderness and mercy.
He stressed the necessity of mercy throughout his visit, and reached out to so many people on the peripheries of society.
This was especially evident through his visit to the favela, the hospital and drug rehabilitation centre for young people, the meeting with young prisoners, the concern for the sick, and for young people who are broken.
He also showed how much he stands in solidarity with those living in extreme poverty and struggling for justice and peace.
His comments on the plane, particularly about the divorced and remarried, women, and homosexuals must be read and understood through the lenses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the outreach and concern of the Church for those on the fringes, and the mercy, tenderness and forgiveness of a pastor who walks among his people.
The Question to Pope Francis from Ilse, a journalist on the Papal flight
Ilse: I would like to ask permission to pose a rather delicate question. Another image that went around the world is that of Monsignor Ricca and the news about his personal life. I would like to know, your Holiness, what will be done about this question. How should one deal with this question and how does your Holiness wish to deal with the whole question of the gay lobby?
The Pope’s Answer
[Pope Francis’s response:] Regarding the matter of Monsignor Ricca, I did what Canon Law required and did the required investigation. And from the investigation, we did not find anything corresponding to the accusations against him. We found none of that. That is the answer.
But I would like to add one more thing to this: I see that so many times in the Church, apart from this case and also in this case, one looks for the “sins of youth,” for example, is it not thus? And then these things are published. These things are not crimes. The crimes are something else: child abuse is a crime.
But sins, if a person, or secular priest or a nun, has committed a sin and then that person experienced conversion, the Lord forgives and when the Lord forgives, the Lord forgets and this is very important for our lives.
When we go to confession and we truly say “I have sinned in this matter,” the Lord forgets and we do not have the right to not forget because we run the risk that the Lord will not forget our sins, eh? This is a danger. This is what is important: a theology of sin.
So many times I think of St. Peter: he committed one of the worst sins denying Christ. And with this sin they made him Pope. We must think about fact often.
But returning to your question more concretely: in this case [Ricca] I did the required investigation and we found nothing. That is the first question.
Then you spoke of the gay lobby. Agh… so much is written about the gay lobby. I have yet to find on a Vatican identity card the word gay. They say there are some gay people here. I think that when we encounter a gay person, we must make the distinction between the fact of a person being gay and the fact of a lobby, because lobbies are not good. They are bad. If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge that person? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this point beautifully but says, wait a moment, how does it say, it says, these persons must never be marginalized and “they must be integrated into society.”
The problem is not that one has this tendency; no, we must be brothers, this is the first matter. There is another problem, another one: the problem is to form a lobby of those who have this tendency, a lobby of the greedy people, a lobby of politicians, a lobby of Masons, so many lobbies. This is the most serious problem for me. And thank you so much for doing this question. Thank you very much!
Original transcript in Italian
(Ilse) Vorrei chiedere il permesso di fare una domanda un po’ delicata: anche un’altra immagine ha girato un po’ il mondo, che è stata quella di mons. Ricca e delle notizie sulla sua intimità. Vorrei sapere, Santità, cosa intende fare su questa questione? Come affrontare questa questione e come Sua Santità intende affrontare tutta la questione della lobby gay?
(Papa Francesco): Quello di mons. Ricca: ho fatto quello che il Diritto Canonico manda a fare, che è la investigatio previa. E da questa investigatio non c’è niente di quello di cui l’accusano, non abbiamo trovato niente di quello. Quella è la risposta. Ma io vorrei aggiungere un’altra cosa su questo: io vedo che tante volte nella Chiesa, al di fuori di questo caso ed anche in questo caso, si va a cercare i “peccati di gioventù”, per esempio, no?, e questo si pubblica. Non i delitti, eh? I delitti sono un’altra cosa: l’abuso sui minori è un delitto. No, i peccati. Ma se una persona, laica o prete o suora, ha fatto un peccato e poi si è convertito, il Signore perdona e quando il Signore perdona, il Signore dimentica e questo per la nostra vita è importante. Quando noi andiamo a confessarci e diciamo davvero “Ho peccato in questo”, il Signore dimentica e noi non abbiamo il diritto di non dimenticare, perché abbiamo il rischio che il Signore non si dimentichi dei nostri [peccati] eh? E’ un pericolo quello. Quello è importante: una teologia del peccato. Tante volte penso a San Pietro: ha fatto uno dei peggiori peccati, che è rinnegare Cristo, e con questo peccato lo hanno fatto Papa. Dobbiamo pensare tanto.
Ma tornando alla Sua domanda più concreta: in questo caso, ho fatto l’ivestigatio previa e non abbiamo trovato. Questo è la prima domanda. Poi, Lei parlava della lobby gay: mah… si scrive tanto della lobby gay. Io ancora non ho trovato mi dia la cartella d’identità in Vaticano con “gay”. Dicono che ce ne sono. Credo che quando uno si trova con una persona così, deve distinguere il fatto di essere una persona gay dal fatto di fare una lobby, perché le lobby tutte non sono buone. Quello è il cattivo. Se una persona è gay e cerca il Signore e ha buona volontà, ma chi sono io per giudicarla? Il catechismo della Chiesa cattolica spiega tanto bello questo, ma dice, Aspetta un po’, come si dice…e dice “non si devono emarginare queste persone per questo, devono essere integrate in società”. Il problema non è avere questa tendenza, no: dobbiamo essere fratelli, perché questo è uno, ma se c’è un altro, un altro, il problema è fare lobby di questa tendenza o lobby di avari, lobby di politici, lobby dei massoni, tante lobby. Questo è il problema più grave per me. E La ringrazio tanto per aver fatto questa domanda. Grazie tante!
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
On behalf of Fr. Federico Lombardi and the Holy See Press Office, thank you for your continued interest and collaboration. —Father Tom Rosica
A complete audio file of the interview
Here is a link to a complete audio file of the press conference with Pope Francis: https://www.avvenire.it/Audio/Pagine/Audio.aspx?AudioId=148
And here is a link to a transcription of large portions of the Pope’s 80 minutes of remarks, on the VaticanInsider website: https://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/gmg-26831/
The Secular Media’s Focus…
The New York Times took the opportunity of this interview with the Pope to suggest that Francis was taking a “breathtaking” new approach toward the question of homosexauality.
“Striking a breathtakingly conciliatory approach to a hot-button issue that has divided Catholics, Pope Francis on Monday said that he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation,” Rachel Donadio wrote. “His predecessor, Benedict XVI, who retired in February, wrote a Vatican document that said that men with ‘deep-seated homosexual tendencies’ should not become priests,” she added, implying that Francis was distancing himself from Benedict’s teaching.
Link to the complete New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/world/europe/pope-francis-gay-priests.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
A Visit to St. Mary Major
As soon as Pope Francis returned to Rome following World Youth Day, he asked to be driven to the Basilica St. Mary Major to pray before an icon of the Madonna and thank her for the safe and successful week in Brazil.
Here is a link to a Rome Reports video of this special moment: https://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-francis-returns-to-rome-after-wyd-2013-upon-arrival-goes-to-basilica-to-pray-to-our-lady-english-10719.html#.Ufbiy-A9BBw
New Foundation
Editor’s Note: I wanted to thank the “Founding Members” of our new “Urbi et Orbi Foundation,” who have contributed more than $100,000 since Christmas to help us launch this initiative, aimed at working to improve relations between Catholics and Orthodox. We will be announcing our first projects and grants in a few days. We do seek further support. If anyone would like more information about this important initiative, please write to me by replying to this email. –Robert Moynihan
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