There is suddenly a renewed interest in the Gay issue in and outside of the Vatican, created due to a mid-term document of the Synod released on Monday. The document said, “Homosexuals have gifts to offer to the Christian community”. The gay community around the world, human right activists and clerics sympathetic to the isolation that gays experience welcomed the statement. Seeing the euphoria the Vatican was quick to downplay the news, saying that it was only “a mid-Synod report which had been given importance it did not merit”.
An extraordinary General Session of Synod of Bishops was called by Pope Francis on “pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelisation”, back in October 2013. After a year-long work on a preparatory paper, a new working document (Lineamenta) was prepared which is now being discussed. The Synod began on October 5 and will conclude on October 19, though the final document will be discussed in another Synod scheduled for October 2015 and its release is expected sometime in early 2016.
In his opening remarks to the Synod, Pope Francis urged the 184 bishops and 69 other participants, including priests, lay consultants comprising 12 married couples from around the world, and nuns not to worry about what others, including himself, would think about what they have to say. “Speak clearly. Say everything that, in the Lord (God), you need to say, without human considerations. At the same time welcome with an open heart that which your brothers say”, he said.
Ever since Pope Francis was elected there has been great anticipation amongst Catholics. Starting with his decision to abandon his Papal residence to coming down heavily on capitalism which seeks nothing but profits he has been in the news. But it is his call to the leaders of the Church to be “compassionate” towards the faithful, particularly those in difficult life situations that has made him a likeable leader.
A few of the “difficult situations” faced by the families are of course broken marriages, live-in relationships, non-acceptance of divorce by the Church (it denies sacraments to such individuals), pastoral care of children affected by irregular marriages, the openness of married couples to life (children) as some couples do not want children; same sex relations which also now extend to a greater clamour for recognition of gay marriages and so on.
After Pope Francis, while answering the question of a journalist on the “gay lobby” in the Vatican, said, “If a person is gay and seeks to do the will of God, who am I to judge?” there has been renewed hope in the LGBT community for greater acceptance in the Christian community. One must add that his statement also drew a lot of flak from the conservatives that the Pope was deviating from Church teachings. But examining the traditional Church teachings, one finds that the Pope has not said anything new. The Catechism of the Church # 2358 clearly says, “They (gay) must be accepted with compassion. Every sign of discrimination should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfil God’s will…”
Thus, when in July 2009 the Delhi HC issued a judgement on Article 377 and held that treating consensual homosexual sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights, the Church did not raise any objections. On the contrary, it said that the Church would like to accompany them in their struggle.
It is true, as Pope Francis too reiterated sometime ago, that the Church and the clergy have been too obsessed with the issue of homosexuality and abortion. They sometimes forget Church’s basic mission of being compassionate towards all rather than being judgemental. Jesus himself demonstrated this when people brought an adulterous woman before him, citing the Law of Moses to stone such a woman to death.
It is this attitude of Jesus that Pope Francis is trying to push into the Church rather than too much of dogmatism. In September 2013, he said in an interview, “The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else”.
Father Dominic Emmanuel is a founder-member of Parliament of Religions. He can be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com
