Homosexual relations and the decisive battle for marriage and family

By José Ureta   |   9 October 2024

In February 2008, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna, Italy, provided insights into a profound spiritual struggle facing the Church. After celebrating Mass at the tomb of Padre Pio, he revealed in an interview with Tele Radio Padre Pio that he had written to Sr Lucy, the last surviving seer of Fatima, seeking her prayers for his mission to establish the Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. Surprisingly, Sr Lucy responded with a lengthy letter warning, “A time will come when the decisive battle between the kingdom of Christ and Satan will be over marriage and the family.” This proclamation not only underscores the gravity of the situation but also foretells the trials that those defending the family would face.

The historical context of the family struggle

The struggle against Christian marriage is not new; it has deep historical roots. It began with the introduction of divorce during the Protestant Reformation, evolved through the enactment of civil marriage during the French Revolution, and gained momentum with the notion of free love during Lenin’s early years in power. By the 1930s, discussions surrounding birth control and contraception became prominent, with Pius XI responding through the encyclical Casti Connubii, which defended traditional marriage.

However, the real acceleration of this battle can be traced to the sexual revolution of the 1960s, catalysed by events such as the May ’68 protests in Paris. This movement, with its rallying cry of “It is forbidden to forbid”, not only challenged existing norms surrounding marriage but also opened doors for the homosexual movement. As many Western nations began to legalise same-sex marriage, the focus shifted to gender ideology, further complicating societal views on sexuality.

Alison Jaggar, a prominent American feminist scholar, bluntly stated, “The end of the biological family will also eliminate the need for sexual repression. Male homosexuality, lesbianism, and extramarital sexual intercourse will no longer be viewed in the liberal way as alternative options. … Humanity could finally revert to its natural polymorphously perverse sexuality.”

The emergence of the gay rights movement, particularly following events like the Stonewall riots in 1969, marked a pivotal moment in the battle for recognition and acceptance. Early advocates within the movement recognised that the underlying issue was not merely about legal rights but about altering societal perceptions of morality itself. Paul Varnell, a pro-homosexual journalist, articulated this point, emphasising that changing the moral judgment surrounding homosexuality was essential for the movement’s success.

But for this manoeuvre to succeed, homosexuality had to be accepted by various religions, particularly Christianity. To achieve this, the homosexual movement has, since the 1970s, created numerous associations specifically for this purpose. One of the most active today is the Soulforce movement, which twenty years ago described its mission as follows: 

“We believe that religion has become the primary source of false and inflammatory misinformation about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. Fundamentalist Christians teach that we are ‘sick’ and ‘sinful.’ . . . Most conservative and liberal denominations refuse to marry us or ordain us for ministry. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that our orientation is ‘objectively disordered’ and our acts of intimacy ‘intrinsically evil’. … We believe these teachings lead to discrimination, suffering and death. Our goal is to confront and eventually replace these tragic untruths with the truth that we are God’s children, too, created, loved, and accepted by God exactly as we are.”

The struggle within the Church: a historical overview

The first Trojan horse to penetrate the Catholic citadel in an attempt to replace traditional Catholic teaching with the new LGBT doxa was an American Jesuit, Fr John J McNeill. In his book, The Church and the Homosexual, McNeill proposed radical ideas contrary to traditional Catholic teaching, asserting that homosexual orientation could be seen as part of God’s design and homosexual partnerships as “mediating God’s presence in our world”.

In 1977, the Catholic Theological Society of America commissioned Fr Anthony Kosnik to edit a collective work asserting that the Bible’s sexual ethics must be contextualised, arguing against the idea of absolute moral truths. This led to a re-evaluation by progressive theologians of how the Church approached issues of sexuality, love, and relationships, particularly concerning individuals attracted to the same sex.

This evolution of theological discourse in progressive Catholic circles favoured the establishment of advocacy groups within the Church under the pretext of pastoral support for individuals with same-sex attraction. The formation of groups like Dignity in 1971 marked a significant development. Despite initial resistance, such organisations proliferated globally, promoting the idea that homosexual relationships could be valid expressions of love.

The emergence of these advocacy groups and their ideological underpinnings presented a dilemma for the Church. While the Church’s traditional teachings remained clear, the influence of societal changes and internal pressures led to a growing divide.

In 1975, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a declaration reiterating that homosexual relations are not justifiable within the context of the Church’s teachings that sexual relations are intended to occur within the confines of marriage between a man and a woman, with the primordial finality of procreation. It reasserted that Catholic doctrine has always regarded homosexual acts as gravely sinful, a view upheld by the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Based on Sacred Scripture, which presents them as grave depravities, Tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered’ (2357). Moreover, the same-sex attraction from which they derive is ‘objectively disordered’ (2358).

This was followed by Cardinal Ratzinger’s 1986 letter to bishops, which warned against pressures to normalise homosexual behaviour within the Church.

Pope Francis’ paradigm shift on homosexuality and its repercussions in the UK

With the ascension of Pope Francis, a significant shift in the Vatican’s approach to LGBT issues became evident. His comments during an air press conference in 2013 — “If a person is homosexual and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?” — sent shockwaves through the Church and the wider world. Many interpreted these remarks as a sign of acceptance, indicating a potential change in the Church’s stance on homosexuality.

This change is perceptible, for instance, in the Life to the Full sex education programme promoted by the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Its videos for children aged 9–16 undermine Catholic teaching and children’s innocence by misrepresenting or entirely omitting Catholic teaching on sexual morality and breaking down their natural reserve and sense of shame. The presenters in the videos speak approvingly of laws enforcing civil partnerships, same-sex unions, and transgenderism, stressing that same-sex marriage and adoption by homosexual pairs are legal in the UK, giving the impression that the only grave sin the Church associates with homosexuality is prejudice against homosexual people.

The controversy around Fiducia Supplicans

The homosexual movement wanted more expressive gestures of openness from the Catholic Church, such as priests publicly blessing homosexual couples. After studying the question in detail, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Ladaria, published a detailed Responsum on March 15, 2021, which states that blessings require, in addition to the correct intention of the person asking for it, that what is blessed be “objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to God’s designs inscribed in Creation and fully revealed by Christ the Lord.”

Less than two years later, the same Roman dicastery published the document Fiducia Supplicans, this time with the signature of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández and the approval of the Pope. In contrast to the previous document, it admits “the possibility of blessings for couples in an irregular situation and for same-sex couples, whose form should not be ritually fixed by the ecclesiastical authorities, so as not to produce confusion with the blessing proper to the sacrament of marriage”.

The former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, hastened to publish a note asserting that the document represents a “doctrinal leap” because “no biblical text, nor any of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, nor any previous document of the Magisterium supports its conclusions.” He concluded categorically, “Blessing a reality contrary to creation is not only impossible; it is blasphemous.”

In turn, Cardinal Robert Sarah, former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, called on bishops’ conferences and all bishops to oppose Fiducia Supplicans. “Anyone who does so is not opposing Pope Francis,” he said, “but is firmly and radically opposing a heresy that gravely damages the Church, the Body of Christ, because it is contrary to Catholic faith and tradition.”

The ongoing battle for marriage and family

In conclusion, we must resist the application of Fiducia Supplicans, just as St Paul resisted St Peter when he wished to reintroduce into the early Church synagogue practices that scandalised the Gentile faithful. Or as St Athanasius resisted Pope Liberus and the vast majority of the fourth-century episcopate who had succumbed to the Arian heresy. He was persecuted, but today he shines in the firmament of the Church as one of its brightest stars.

Our endeavour is the same: to participate in the final battle between the Lord and Satan’s kingdom, which, as Sister Lucia wrote to Cardinal Caffarra, “will be over marriage and the family.” We must fight with courage, knowing that “Our Lady has already crushed his head”.