Pope Francis has often raised eyebrows with commentary that at times seems at odds with Catholic teachings as he weighs in on controversial, hot-button issues of the day. He’s already making headlines for his comments likening abortion to Hitler’s Nazi-led murderous reign, but in the same speech he also affirmed God’s design for marriage.
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This was not the first time the Pope has made statements supporting the sanctity of traditional marriage as he has stood up for this multiple times throughout his time in the public eye. Over the course of his time as pontificate, and while he was Cardinal Bergoglio, he made public statements supporting traditional marriage.
This past week Pope Francis was speaking at the Forum delle Famiglie, an Italian movement for Catholic families, where he raised eyebrows when he stated that homosexual families are not seen as families in the eyes of God.
“It is painful to say this today: People speak of varied families, of various kinds of family [but] the family [as] man and woman in the image of God is the only one,” he said, according to the ANSA News Agency.
“Many women – but even men sometimes do it [with wives] – wait in silence, looking the other way, waiting for their husband to become faithful again,” the Pope also lamented.
This, he added, is “the sanctity that forgives all out of love.”
Despite his comments, the Pope is still seen as more liberal than those that came before him.
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Last month, Pope Francis warned the Italian Bishops that gay applicants should not be allowed into the priesthood. Pope Benedict also warned of allowing gay people to join the priesthood, saying that men “who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called ‘gay culture’” should not enter into the God-ordained priesthood.
We Are Church, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said that they are “appalled and alarmed” at the Pope’s statements against the LGBTQ community.
“This reinforcement of anti-LGBTQI attitudes and the refusal to recognize LGBTQI families as true Catholic families by Pope Francis will be treated with incredulity and dismay by the Catholic faithful,” the Irish group said.
Mary McAleese, who is the former president of We Are Church, stated that the Catholic Church is repeatedly hurting the LGBTQ community. She also argued that the Catholic Church should be working to be “a champion of complete diversity and inclusion.”
The Pope also addressed abortion, pointing out the eugenics used by Nazis are the same ones being used today to eradicate babies with disabilities.
“In the last century, the entire world was scandalized by what the Nazis did to ensure the purity of the race. Today we do the same, but with white gloves,” he said.