Religious Leaders Lash Out at Pope Francis for Supporting Civil Union Laws

This week, in a new documentary, Pope Francis expressed his support for civil unions for same-sex couples. It’s both a big deal for the head of the Catholic Church to say that gay people deserve at least legal rights if not Church recognition… and also disappointing that this is the best the pope can do.

But it didn’t take long for other Church leaders to chime in and remind the world that the Catholic Church remains a bigoted institution.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, who once said families should not expose their children to relatives in “profoundly disordered and harmful” gay relationships, downplayed the pope’s comments.

The particular and sometimes deep-seated tendencies of persons, men and women, in the homosexual condition, which are for them a trial, although they may not in themselves constitute a sin, represent nonetheless an objectively disordered inclination…

Weird way to “love the sinner”…

Bishop Thomas Tobin, who once said Catholics should avoid LGBTQ Pride events during June since they’re “especially harmful for children,” basically said the pope wasn’t being Catholic.

The Pope’s statement clearly contradicts what has been the long-standing teaching of the Church about same-sex unions. The Church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships. Individuals with same-sex attraction are beloved children of God and must have their personal human rights and civil rights recognized and protected by law. However, the legalization of their civil unions, which seek to simulate holy matrimony, is not admissible.

None of that contradicts what the pope said. It just stresses the we-hate-LGBTQ-people rules of the Church.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who recently performed an exorcism at the site of a toppled statue of Junipero Serra, somehow defended the pope in the worst possible way, saying civil unions should apply to literally everyone.

“I would add that a civil union of this type (one which is not equated to marriage) should be as inclusive as possible, and not be restricted to two people of the same sex in a presumed sexual relationship. There is no reason, for example, why a brother and a sister, both of whom are unmarried and support each other, should not have access to these kinds of benefits.

If that sounds weird, keep in mind that his goal is to make sure gay couples don’t get anything special. Certainly not marriage but also nothing even on that path. Whatever gay couples get, it should be no greater than what two siblings could have.

And while he’s not a Catholic, evangelist Franklin Graham couldn’t miss the opportunity to express hate. He also condemned the pope for not sticking to the Bible.

For Pope Francis to attempt to normalize homosexuality is to say that Holy Scriptures are false, that our sins really don’t matter, and that we can continue living in them. If that were true, then Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection wouldn’t have been needed. The cross would have been for nothing. No one has the right or the authority to trivialize Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf.

Imagine how hateful you must be for the legal union of two gay people to ruin your entire religion.

This is how they’re reacting to a mild statement by the pope. The pope may be the head of the Church, but these people are the ones who continue giving their religions a bad name.