Catechism’s Language of “Disordered” Could Change, Says Cardinal; More Synod News

Bondings 2.0 writers Robert Shine and Francis DeBernardo are in Rome for the month of October covering the first global assembly of the Synod on Synodality, particularly LGBTQ-related developments. For the blog’s full coverage of this multi-year synodal journey, click here.

REPORTING FROM ROME—Tomorrow, the Synod on Synodality’s first General Assembly concludes. Bondings 2.0 has covered LGBTQ-related developments all month, but given how often gender and sexuality issues arose, we have not been able to post it all yet. This post is a rundown of some remaining bits of Synod news and commentaries .

Catechism’s Language of “Disordered” Could Change, Says Cardinal

Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn affirmed at a press briefing that Pope Francis could revise the Catechism’s language about lesbian and gay people, if desired. Schönborn, who led the development of the present Catechism of the Catholic Church under Pope John Paul II, responded to a question about the language of “disordered” in that text’s section on homosexuality. According to Crux:

“[The Catechism is] a work of the Church and it has been promulgated by the pope,” he said, saying Pope Francis has the authority to change it and that he did so once before when, in 2018, he decided to revise the Church’s position on the death penalty, changing the language of the catechism to say that capital punishment is ‘unacceptable.’ . . .

“In terms of whether there will be further changes, Schönborn said he does not know, and that ‘the pope is the only one who can decide, because he’s the one who promulgated the catechism.’”

More From Sister Jeannine Gramick on Meeting Pope Francis

After the 50-minute meeting with Pope Francis, that Sister Jeannine Gramick New Ways Ministry staff enjoyed, the pioneering LGBTQ+ ministry nung shared some of what she and the pope discussed, and the impact the meeting had on her. In addition to her reflection for Bondings 2.0, available here, Sr. Jeannine appeared on the National Catholic Reporter’s podcast, Vatican Briefing.

Gramick told hosts Joshua McElwee and Christopher White that Francis “has a warmth and a wanting to embrace everyone, not just LGBT people but those who have been shunned by society and the church.”

Of the meeting, Gramick commented, “I pulled my chair closer to his, because I didn’t like that arrangement. It was a fine arrangement, but not close enough. And then we just began to chat. It was really quite homey.” The episode of Vatican Briefing is available on any podcast platform.

Also in the National Catholic Reporter, former editor Tom Roberts opined about the historic meeting, saying that “not-too-long-ago” saying Gramick and the pope meeting “might have been the punchline to a bad joke or a way of emphasizing that something was impossible.” Now, Roberts writes:

“It was no joke. It was, indeed, proof of what is possible with enduring faith, a disposition toward others that emerges from the heart of the Gospel, and a resilience that is beyond extraordinary. That last bit, resilience, always borne with incredible grace in the face of the utterly brutal treatment she received from church authorities in the past, is breathtaking. . .

“The persistence with which she worked for church reform is the same that she has displayed in her commitment to those who were marginalized, whose sexuality was described as disordered. She has arrived at the point, once almost unimaginable, of thanking a pope ‘for his openness to blessing same-sex unions.’”

Ireland’s President Lauds Pope’s LGBTQ+ Outreach

Irish President Michael Higgins had a private audience with Pope Francis last week, after which he commended the pope for seeking a more inclusive church. Higgins had been asked by LGBT representatives in Ireland to raise this topic. According to The Irish Times:

“Pope Francis was well aware of Mr Higgins’s views that the church should be more liberal, the president said. ‘We discussed the role of women,’ Mr Higgins told reporters. ‘We discussed his recent announcement, welcoming the capacity, or the space that would be given to the blessing of civil unions and the position of the LGBT community.’”

Higgins noted the “grave difficulties” the pope faces in trying to be more inclusive, but noted, “I get a sense of that nearly every time I meet him. But his heart is in the right place.” Higgins continued:

“‘He’s reaching out to people in the LGBT community. . .Look at the people he has allowed back into the discussion. . .There are people who have been excluded from the discourse that should have been long, long back, and there are people who’ve been deeply wounded by this.’”

President of U.S. Bishops’ Conference Says LGBTQ+ Welcome Is for “Conversion”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Military Services (U.S.), who is also president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was asked by Catholic News Service about inclusion in the church, in particular for LGBTQ+ people. Broglio responded, in part:

“The invitation is always to conversion, it’s always to change. . .We welcome, but we try to bring people to a situation of conversion and a situation of life in Christ. Of course, we recognize, and I certainly recognize, that conversion is a life-long process.”

Later that day, at a press briefing, Broglio was about that comment on LGBTQ+ inclusion. The archbishop said he was referring to inclusion generally, adding that Jesus “reached out” to people considered sinners “so that there would be a moment of conversion.” 

Bishop Suggests Pope’s Blessing Text Took Issue ‘Off the Table’

Per Crux, Bishop Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay, Australia. suggested that Pope Francis’ release of a text in which he expressed openness to blessing same-gender couples before the Synod assembly has a historical parallel. Randazzo cited Pul VI’s intervention between the last session of Vatican II in 1965, in which the pope removed discussions of a most divisive issue, priestly celibacy, from the agenda. Crux’s editor, John Allen, Jr., opined:

“Both [blessings for same-gender couples and women’s ordination] had been expected to be neuralgic questions in the synod, so by addressing them before it even began, Francis took some of the drama out of the gathering and, in addition, focused whatever resentment those positions may generate on himself. . .

“In other words, Paul VI took a hit in order to prevent his council from getting bogged down – and, in addition, also had the integrity of saying out loud that debate was pointless anyway, since he’d already made up his mind. One could argue that Francis has done pretty much the same thing with his synod.”

More Articles Touching on LGBTQ+ Issues and the Synod

Brian Fraga, National Catholic Reporter, “Secular newspapers consider ‘daring hope’ of pope’s Synod of Bishops

Christopher Lamb, The Tablet, “At Synod they wept, but have they truly changed?”

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, October 27, 2023