Cardinal Marx Archbishop of Munich and Freising, head of the German Bishops’ Conference, and one of the prelates closest to the pope – one of his lead point-men at the Synods of Destruction – saying, “I think it’s normal, you cannot say that a relationship between a man and a man and they are faithful [that] that is nothing, that has no worth.”
As always, he pulls te barest vestige of a veil over his theological nakedness with the usual caveat that he’s not talking about “gay marriage…” It is up to the state, he said, “to make regulations for homosexuals so they have equal rights or nearly equal . . . but marriage is another point.”
This is nothing new for Marx. At both Synods he was in the forefront of those suggesting that the perennial tradition of the Church, all of moral theology and common sense have been wrong all along.
In 2014, he blessed us with the following wisdom:
"I have the impression that we have a lot of work to do in the theological field, not only related to the question of divorce, but also the theology of marriage. I am astonished that some can say, “Everything is clear” on this topic. Things are not clear. It is not about church doctrine being determined by modern times. It is a question of aggiornamento, to say it in a way that the people can understand, and to always adapt our doctrine to the Gospel, to theology, in order to find in a new way the sense of what Jesus said, the meaning of the tradition of the church and of theology and so on. There is a lot to do.
“Take the case of two homosexuals who have been living together for 35 years and taking care of each other, even in the last phases of their lives. How can I say that this has no value?”
At the 2015 Synod, Marx said,
We must make it clear that we do not only judge people according to their sexual orientation...If a same-sex couple are faithful, care for one another and intend to stay together for life God won't say 'All that doesn't interest me, I'm only interested in your sexual orientation.'"
Well, at least he’s consistent…
Certainly we haven’t heard such blatant homophilia from Francis that we have from his immediate, hand-picked subordinates. Cardinal Marx is perhaps the most outspokenly homophiliac of the European episcopate, but he was certainly not alone in his demands to normalize sodomitical relationships. Let us not forget that even apart from Archbishop Bruno Forte, the author of the notorious Synod 1 “mid-term relatio” inviting the Church to “value” the “homosexual orientation,” we had Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp helpfully helping the Church to come out of the Middle Ages (see what I did there?).
Not to be outdone, just after the Synod ’14, the Bonny churchman said,
“There should be recognition of a diversity of forms. We have to look inside the church for a formal recognition of the kind of interpersonal relationship that is also present in many gay couples. Just as there are a variety of legal frameworks for partners in civil society, one must arrive at a diversity of forms in the church. … The intrinsic values are more important to me than the institutional question. The Christian ethic is based on lasting relationships where exclusivity, loyalty, and care are central to each other.”
Apparently in the New Church of Wacky-Fun being put into its final form by this pope and his friends, this business of “faithfulness” among either adulterers, unmarried fornicators or errr… “same-sex couples” is being placed as the gold standard of moral judgment. No matter what you do, if your thing is people of the same sex, someone of the opposite sex that you’re not married to, or anything else, (dolphins? coffee tables?... little kids maybe?) as long as you’re “faithful” it’s going to be A-OK with the W-FSoS, and with the pope.
I would suggest that we have from Bishop Bonny a theological definition to work with in this New Paradigm of “faithfulness” as the long and the short of the moral liceity of our various proclivities. No matter what you’re into, it’s OK as long as there’s “exclusivity, loyalty and care.”
It certainly is interesting to see a rhetorical pattern emerge. It looks like we’ve got some useful new catchphrases with which to make Google News Alerts.
This is the creed of our day: if it feels good go ahead, as long as you’re safe. As long as you’re “really in love”. As long as you’ve cleared it with your insurance company…
Keep your eyes and ears open for more of this “faithfulness” talk from Francis-bishops around about. Ever-eager to please, I wonder how long it will be before the soon-to-be Cardinal archbishop of Chicago starts hearing similar inspirations from the W-FSoS.
