US: Illinois cites the Pope in support of legalization of gay “marriage”
With 64 votes in favour and 54 votes opposed, and the signature of Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois lawmakers passed a bill authorizing gay “marriage” from June 2014 on. The Chicago Tribune emphasized one aspect of the process of legalizing unnatural unions—that the Illinois activists who supported it used Pope Francis’ words to justify their position. When flying back from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, the Pope told journalists on board the plane with reference to homosexuals, “If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them?” According to the Tribune, this statement led several Catholic legislators to “examine their consciences,” for instance Democrat Linda Chapa LaVia and the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Michael Madigan. The latter stated that the Pope’s comments on homosexuality were responsible for 5 to 10 deciding votes in favour of the law.
In commenting on the news, Canadian website LifeNews.com reported Linda Chapa LaVia as saying, “As a Catholic follower of Jesus and the pope, Pope Francis, I am clear that our Catholic religious doctrine has at its core love, compassion, and justice for all people.” For his part Michael Madigan, without actually naming the Pope, echoed the same comment when he said, “"For those that just happen to be gay – living in a very harmonious, productive relationship but illegal – who am I to judge that they should be illegal?"
As La Vie columnist Jean Mercier pointed out in his article entitled ‘Le pape est-il demago?’ [Is the Pope a demagogue?] (see DICI 282, 04/10/13) : “When someone asked the Pope for his position on homosexuality, he answered, “Who am I to judge…?” It’s all in the “Who am I”: quite simply, he is the Pope… Which is why they asked him (…) It is either a refusal to assume the responsibility of his position, or an evasion intended to win over the entire world of journalists with his humility—and lead them to conclude that the Church’s attitude is “revolutionized”.”
(Source: European Correspondence – DICI no. 285, 22/11/13)
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United States: The American bishops defend the definition of marriage
United States: The American bishops defend the definition of marriage
