Pope Francis, Logic, and Charity

Whenever I get into a discussion with someone, personally or professionally, I try to assume good intent. I also try to adhere to what's commonly known as "Hanlon's Razor": "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by ignorance." But in many discussions, there comes a point when it becomes difficult to adhere to these principles. When someone tells an obvious lie, or when someone no longer adheres to logic, you cannot explain away their statements.

That is why I am honestly struggling with some of Pope Francis's recent comments. Ever since the publication of Fiducia Supplicans in late 2023, there has been a lively debate concerning exactly what the document permits and what the intent was behind it. Now, America Magazine is reporting Pope Francis's comments on the document in an interview that will be published on February 8. According to the article, Pope Francis stated:

“I don't bless a ‘homosexual marriage,’ I bless two people who love each other, and I also ask them to pray for me,” Pope Francis told Pauline Father Vincenzo Vitale, director of Credere. “Always in the confessional, when these situations come up, homosexual people, remarried people, I always pray and always bless. The blessing should not be denied to anyone. Everyone, everyone, everyone.”

It is hard to understand how the pope believes that his statement adheres to basic logic. Pope Francis wants to distinguish between blessing a "homosexual marriage"--the relationship--on the one hand, and "two people who love each other" on the other. But you cannot dissociate "two people who love each other" from the relationship itself. This is not blessing a parent and child, who presumably also love each other. It's not blessing a properly ordered heterosexual relationship. By blessing the two individuals together and acknowledging their relationship, the priest or pope who imparts the blessing is stating that something about the relationship is good and worthy of a blessing.

There is also a distinction between "homosexual people" who bring the struggles they have to confession and couples who ask for a blessing. Any person coming to confession, to be forgiven validly, must have contrition and a firm purpose of amendment. As Pope St. John Paul II once noted, "one can clearly see how confession must be humble complete, accompanied by a firm, generous purpose of amendment for the future and lastly by the trust that this same amendment will be achieved." A purpose of amendment means that one confesses one's sins and has "the serious intention not to commit them again in the future."

If an individual who is homosexual comes to confession, confesses his sins, shows that he wants to repent, and is contrite, we should rejoice in that just as we rejoice in the repentance of any sinner. In that case, a blessing seems most appropriate to encourage the individual to pursue virtue and rely ever more on God's grace in the struggle against sin. But blessing two homosexuals "who love each other" is a completely different thing. It's not even in the same category.

The "two people who love each other" who stand before Pope Francis for a blessing are declaring that they are in a relationship and, presumably, that they intend to remain in the relationship. There is no repentance. There is no firm purpose of amendment. Rather, they seek validation of a relationship that the Church considers disordered and sinful. To bless that relationship is to sow deep confusion, which is exacerabated by the fact that the blessing is, presumably, given to the two people standing together and not given to one, and then the other. Blessing a disordered relationship is a significant disservice to the two individuals. If the intent is to help them, we should focus on calling people to repentance. Rather than preaching the truth--something that all of us need to hear--blessing two homosexuals in a relationship is, in its essence, blessing sin.

My wife and I have met with engaged couples for many years. An overwhelming percentage of those couples are living together and are sexually active. It would be a disservice to them and to their future marriage not to call them out on it. If we fail to explain why cohabitation and premarital sex are disordered, we have failed in our role and we have not exposed them to the truth of the gospel. Although Pope Francis's intentions may be good, they seem to fall victim to what Pope St. John Paul described as "the mistaken reduction of moral value to the so-called 'fundamental option' alone, partly because of the equally mistaken reduction of the content of the moral law solely to the precept of charity."

It is not charitable to deny people the truth, no matter how hard it may be for them to hear it. We can explain the truth charitably, but we should never withhold speaking the truth out of a disordered sense of charity.