HOMOSEXUALS AND THE CARDINAL VIRTUE OF PRUDENCE THAT THE GREAT PONTIFF SHOULD EXERCISE, BEING ON EARTH THE SUCCESSOR OF THE APOSTLE PETER, NOT THE SUCCESSOR OF CHRIST

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The Roman Pontiff is indeed the Vicar of Christ, but it is not Christ, he is his vicar on earth, not his Successor on earth. The Supreme Pontiff is the Successor of Peter, not the Successor of Christ. Therefore it cannot be more "open" and "good" than Christ himself. Nor can it abolish what Christ established also through the creation of man and woman, created through him and for him (cf.. With the 1,16).

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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"Children don't buy themselves" – If the bill against homotrasophobia will be converted into state law, for an image like this one will risk prison.

For days I have been listeningO troubled Christian faithful from the recent statements by the Roman Pontiff on civil unions between people with homosexual tendencies. I add to them several priest confreres who found themselves confused and embarrassed by these private utterances of the Pope. We priests, faithful to every Successor of Peter, we know, how certain affirmations produce precedents in the common feeling which then make pastoral practice problematic and difficult, sacramental and moral. As happened in the past with the post-synodal apostolic exhortation love joy. Qhis due to an intrinsic formative weakness of people who are no longer able to distinguish between a magisterial pronouncement of the Church and ecclesial gossip. Said in other terms: for the men of today - including many Christians - there is no difference between an off-the-cuff interview of the Pope with Eugenio Scalfari or with Antonio Spadaro, an encyclical and a own motion Popes.

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For this I do not intend to dwell on purpose on the analysis of the ambiguous words present in that documentary by Evgeny Afineevsky shown at the Rome Film Fest a few days ago. The work of the Russian director, it has been defined by many as «a good product, able to outline the profile of a Pontiff who is reaching out to the suburbs, in listening to the whole community, especially to the last and the distant " [cf.. WHO].

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A bold assessment, this, which could also have a merit for the purposes of cinematographic art, but which appears totally detrimental to the authority and dignity of the Pope who cannot be compared and subjected to any man by virtue of his spiritual and moral role that he plays for all of catholicity. In the documentary film project the Pope would have affirmed inclusiveness:

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«Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or made unhappy about it. What we need to create is a law on civil unions. This way they are legally covered. I fought for this " [cf.. WHO].

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Faced with this statement, we can include the testimony of the Chilean activist Juan Carlos Cruz, also present at the Rome film event, which he stated:

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“When I met Pope Francis he told me how sorry he was for what had happened. Juan, it's God who made you gay and still loves you. God loves you and the Pope loves you too ".

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Combining the documentary of the Russian director the testimony of the Chilean activist thus creates a very precise intentionality with which to read the figure of the Pontiff, reducing him to a faction leader. Unfortunately, such an attempt is useless, because the figure of the Pope does not stand on the strength of subjective reviews or evaluations, on the contrary, the figure of the Pope is authentic on the basis of what Christ himself established for him, constituting him his vicar and representative on earth. This is why it is not necessary to analyze the interview with the Pope and try to reconstruct a complex exegesis with the sole purpose of exonerating or blaming the Roman Pontiff. Much less need an interpretation in a good part of certain theologians who have the sole purpose of saving what can be saved and making the Pope say what perhaps he never thought, said or simply hypothesized. Because we must also deal with this other type of subject: those who for seven years have now specialized in making the Supreme Pontiff say what he did not say, finding in his words what is not there.

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The Pope's voice is that of the Church, which is expressed through official organs and channels of the Holy See and through a solid magisterium, precise and punctual, not through improvised and inappropriate private chatter. His, like it or not like it, it must be a clear and scrupulously protected voice, it cannot be used in documentaries, off-the-cuff interviews o live your Facebook or your Instagram. The Pope doesn't have to be influence him of God.

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The Pope's voice should not give rise to official denials as it is guarantee of that cardinal virtue of prudence which is indispensable for every pastor of the Church. A voice that should be heard wisely, avoiding those disputes of speech with the world that the Seraphic Father Francis advised against to his friars.

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That's why I consider these scoop so sensational, harmful to the figure of the Supreme Pontiff and not binding for the Catholic faithful who have no obligation to assent of faith. We know well how today every statement can be wisely manipulated and used properly. The print, i social media e i media I'm able to sew a makeover to any statement when, extrapolating the original context, it is turned over so many times that it assumes a contradictory value, with the result of changing into white what is black and into good what is evil.

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Such ploy are obvious to all, but some turn out to be more useful than others when they facilitate, eg, very specific and very specific purposes. And the purpose in this case coincides with the law against homotransphobia and LGBT rights that is being approved in Italy. If we think about it, this interview with the Pope had the merit of perfect timing, in fact which better sponsor of the Pontiff to present the open-minded requests of the rainbow community in the Italian media and social context that has always been Catholic?

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He is sure in the face of such utterances, everyone will feel compelled to say naively: «If the Pope says so, it's a good thing, it's an urgent and just law ", so you have to let it pass. Caution, Examples such as this lead very quickly to the consequence of the supremacy of juridical positivism over natural law and natural morality. With the consequence that a law becomes right only because it was implemented and approved by a human legislator or because the human legislator considers this law to be just by virtue of its very existence. We know well that this is not the case, indeed, many laws that claim the title of just and civil have proved to be the most deleterious and dangerous.

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For St. Thomas Aquinas, human right proceeds from natural law, therefore a law that conflicts with natural law can not only be harmful but also morally inhuman and unseemly as it opposes God as the supreme good and legislator. Clarified this, let us return to papal outbursts and contingent problems.

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It must be clear to everyone that any Pope it cannot go against the deposit of the Catholic faith and the perennial doctrine of the Church. The Church has already been clear enough about people with homosexual tendencies, both through scriptural revelation, both through magisterial pronouncements, and in the pastoral practice of directors of souls. The Pope can only reiterate and confirm what is already in the teaching of the Church and in case he wants to further clarify his thoughts on particular issues, he can do so without however leaving the bed of the two thousand year old magisterium.

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Hence the Pope, as such, will never tell that it is necessary for same-sex couples to marry, having children and equating their marriage to the natural one between a man and a woman. This will never happen, but this should not necessarily be seen as a hateful stance, indeed, it is necessary to clearly reiterate that in the Church any person predisposed to homosexuality will never be mocked or condemned but if anything accompanied with concern towards a path of truth that cannot, however, deny itself.

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My analysis appears correct and makes sense if we compare it with the evidence of the facts and with the reactions that arose after the release of the documentary on the Pope. In Italy, the Honorable Zan, main signatory of the law against homotransphobia, writes on Twitter:

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"The words of @Pontifex_it on #UnioniCivili recognize the right of #lgbt people to family life and help fight hatred and discrimination. It is the duty of the legislator to combat these violent phenomena: now let's speed up the law against #omotransphobia " [cf.. WHO].

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Public answers like these they have multiplied throughout the international political world and in all circles that support LGBT lobbies, so much so as to raise a victory song and bring the Pope in triumph as the one who finally put an end to Catholic obscurantism of medieval origin, racist, fascist and male chauvinist.

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It is clear that these gentlemen are profoundly ignorant of what the Roman Pontiff is and what its role is within the Catholic Church. Yes, he is the Vicar of Christ but he is not Christ, he is precisely his vicar on earth, certainly not his Successor on earth. The Supreme Pontiff, to further clarify, It is the successor of Peter, he is not the Successor of Christ. Nor can he be more "open" and "good" than Christ himself. With this it is easy to say that it cannot abolish what Christ established also through the creation of man and woman, created through him and for him (cf.. With the 1,16). So the man and the woman, male and female, unique and complementary, they are part of a natural purpose that is achieved not only through a physiologically correct act but also by respecting the purpose for which this act intrinsically aims, that is, to live a unitive and procreative sexuality oriented and redeemed by the one and highest good that is God.

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And the awareness of being a Servant of the servants of God it constitutes precisely the way of redemption of the Blessed Apostle Peter. He in Cesarèa di Filippo, although constituted by Christ as a stone on which to build the Church (cf.. Mt 16,18), he had to be converted through a new following. After having scandalized the Master with an alternative salvation proposal to the cross and obedience to the Father (cf.. Mt 16,21-23), he understood that Christ is the only path that man can take. Pietro, therefore every Pontiff of all times, he realizes that his office is in the hands of Christ and produces salvation only and only when Christ is allowed to save the world through the sacrifice of the cross and obedience to God (cf.. GV 21,15-19).

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As we well know, today speaking of the cross and obedience means being taken for fanatics, these are realities not liked by the world. For this reason it is better to seek realities of salvation alien to Christ, showing a substitute in the Vicar of Christ, through which to show more exciting new ways, or better to say, obviously proceeding by absurd paradox: “If Christ remained behind, his Vicar on earth can update, or rather, revolutionize everything ".

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This is the real demonic cunning which rages in our contemporaneity and which still tries to use the figure of the head of Christianity to confuse men and disunite the Church. Pietro, which in the past was sifted as good wheat by Satan (LC 22,31-34), still suffers from the attacks of God's monkey, than from inside and outside the Church, subjects the successors of the apostle to a continuous temptation that can only be resisted through the prayer of Christ and to a continuous and humble repentance after the error: «Simone, Simon behold satan has sought you to sift you like wheat; but I prayed for you, that thy faith fail not:; and you, turned again, confirm your brothers " (LC 22,31-32).

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Laconi, 24 October 2020

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