Pope Francis Says Former Pope Benedict XVI Defended Him on Civil Unions; More News

The following are some items that may be of interest:

1. In a book-length interview published this month, Pope Francis said former Pope Benedict XVI once defended him against cardinals who attacked Francis for supporting same-gender civil unions. The book, El Sucesor, mis recuerdos de Benedicto XVI (The Successor: My Memories of Benedict XVI), was the present pope’s reflections on his relationship with Benedict XVI. According to Crux:

“Shortly after the controversy over those [pro-civil union] remarks erupted, Francis said, a group of cardinals went to see Benedict about it, and during the meeting, ‘Benedict did not become agitated, because he knew perfectly what I thought.’

“‘He listened to all of them, one by one, and he calmed them and explained,’ distinguishing between civil unions and sacramental marriage, telling the cardinals that ‘this is not a heresy.’

“‘How he defended me!’ Francis said, saying this situation helped him understand that there were people ‘who were half covered and who took advantage of the slightest opportunity to bite me,’ but Benedict ‘always defended me.'”

2. Speaking at a conference for the Vatican-affiliated John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences, moral theologian Fr. Ronaldo Zacharias, criticized the church’s “established, dogmatic models of the theological approach to sexuality” as “anachronistic.” UCA News reported on comments by the Salesian priest that, while not explicitly about LGBTQ+ issues, could help expand the church’s understanding of same-gender relationships—and are particularly notable given the forum in which they were delivered:

“Citing the Brazilian theologian Augustinian Sister Ivone Gebara, he said that the church’s ‘theology of binary sexuality is no longer able to understand the complexity that we discover in ourselves.’ . . .

“Any person’s sexuality, regardless of their vocation, ‘has a legitimate role in all phases of their development,’ and therefore it ‘cannot be confined to the context of marriage’ or reduced to a means for procreation, he said. ‘Authentic love moves one toward self-transcendence, and makes sexuality a “place of reciprocity,” a place of affirming the good of the other.'”

3. An Ohio student who attends St. Joseph Academy, Cleveland, won the “Stop the Hate” essay contest by writing about the harm the Diocese of Cleveland’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies introduced in 2023 caused to students. The student, Zoë Schmidt, helped organize protests against the policy, and then in the essay contest was chosen from among 3,000 entries, reported Cleveland.com. Schmidt wrote, in part:

“The day [the policy] was implemented, I sat quietly letting hot tears drip down my face. I was shocked at how sudden and unsettling it was. . .

“After four years of watching my peers work tirelessly to create safe spaces in our school community, it was all going to be ripped away. Usually, I am a loud cryer: I stomp around and make a commotion. But this time, I was quiet, as a storm of emotions passed through me. I felt helpless. . .

“This experience has pushed me to become a vocal member in fighting for the rights and dignity of all students in my school community and in Greater Cleveland as well. Currently, the GSA leaders and I have taken initiative to create a safe space online. This platform allows students to share experiences of LGBTQ+ intolerance that they’ve encountered or witnessed, as well as changes they would like to see in their schools, as we continuously work toward the revocation of the policy. My hope is that our actions will inspire change that ripples through not just our local community but also the global community.”

4. Following controversy over Transgender Day of Visibility in March, which this year aligned with Easter Sunday, Emma Cieslik, a queer Catholic scholar, wrote for U.S. Catholic that these celebratory days coinciding was indeed significant:

“Thus, in the visibility of the bodies of trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer people—top surgery scars, binders, and needle pricks—the beauty of second puberties is the truth made flesh, the coming of Jesus in blood and water in our second reading. So the overlap of Trans Day of Visibility with Easter Sunday is meaningful for LGBTQ+ Catholics and their lay allies everywhere, who are fighting for the same rights accorded in our first reading.

“As Reilly Paige, a genderqueer pastor in New England, shared on Threads this past week: the body of Christ was purposefully scarred and broken to reflect the body of humanity. Paige wrote: ‘Trans people have special insight into this: the scarring, the wholeness, a journey observed with skepticism and malice. May we all come out of our tombs scarred and sacred, holy and wholly in the Divine image.'”

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, April 27, 2024