(LifeSiteNews) – A group of faithful Catholics who live with the cross of same-sex attraction have written an open letter to Pope Francis, rebuking the pontiff for Fiducia Supplicans and the message it sends at “at the expense of truth.”
Dated “Ash Wednesday,” the letter first appeared in Italian on the “Omosessuali cattolici, le loro famiglie e i loro amici (Homosexual Catholics, their families and their friends)” blog site. In an obvious play on words, the group titled their letter Veritas Supplicans, “Begging for Truth.”
Like many same-sex attracted Catholics around the world, the group of Italians heroically reject homosexuality and instead choose day in and day out to live chaste lives.
And while many are struggling to find the right words to express the sense of betrayal and outrage they’re now experiencing — myself included — this group has penned a beautifully worded yet stinging commentary on some of the harms inflicted by the Holy See’s infelicitous publication of Fiducia Supplicans.
Paragraph after paragraph, they demonstrate to Pope Francis that his view is grounded in popular worldly thought and not timeless truths known to the Church for centuries.
“Over the years, we have seen you address in person, with paternal welcome, your transgender and homosexual friends, singles and couples, who have had the privilege of sharing their thoughts and experiences with You,” they write. “Sadly, however, we have not heard of your meetings with those who live and experience, by God’s Grace, the liberating beauty of the Catholic Magisterium for people with same-sex attractions.”
They describe the coexistence of earlier statements of this papacy affirming the Church’s immutable teaching on marriage and sexual complementarity with Fiducia Supplicans as, “a monument to moral relativism as well as a grave offense to logic and reason.”
Pope Francis, You, by defending Fiducia Supplicans to the bitter end, seem to want to plant a stake to mark a point of no return. In fact, it shows us the beginning of a path that is already marked and of which the contours can be glimpsed: the public support that you have shown for homosexual unions in the civil sphere will not fail to find consistent application in the ecclesial sphere as well, using the same pretext of preserving the doctrine on Catholic marriage.
…
Holy Father, if that desire of your heart to welcome the “homosexuals who seek God” is sincere and deep, why propose a hasty blessing, emptied of its sacramental character, just because, for your personal convictions, the welcome must necessarily pass through the full acceptance, social and ecclesial, of “homosexual love,” thus borrowing a language that does not belong to us Catholics?
Are you really convinced that this is the right way to devise a Catholic pastoral care that responds to the true spiritual questions of a heart with same-sex attractions?
They then add this striking declaration:
We want to take up our Cross and follow Him because His yoke is easy and light, while the yoke of the world is hard and leads to despair. We have experienced this, Your Holiness, because we have walked those winding paths and we still bear the wounds.
“You are well aware that homosexual feelings are in themselves disordered, although you do not like this language because it seems harsh and offensive to you. Would it not be more pastorally correct to ‘solve the problem’ by practicing Truth with Charity, rather than going down the path of lying sentimentalism?” they ask.
“Truth makes us free indeed, your Holiness. It is not an outdated saying,” they continued. “But lying makes us even more enslaved to a hasty and superficial ideology that has nothing to do with the Truth of Christ, let alone His Charity.”
Before concluding by asking the Pope to “withdraw this useless and harmful document,” they make one last heartfelt pronouncement, perhaps displaying more spiritual maturity and steadfastness than the radioactive document’s authors.
Holy Father, we aspire to the highest things, we aspire to Heaven. We don’t need such a friendly, pitying, and degrading pat on the back as Fiducia Supplicans.
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Read the translated letter in its entirety:
Veritas Supplicans
“Dear Pope Francis, with some temerity we address our plea to you; we do so with the fear of the child who feels hurt by his daddy’s words.
We are Catholic homosexuals, accompanied by our families and friends. Our weak voice is increasingly struggling to be heard because it is judged out of tune and … incorrect. This is why we turn directly to you, Holy Father, to communicate our doubts and perplexities about the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
During the years of your pontificate, we have followed closely the development of your Holiness’ “theological reflection, based on pastoral vision,” ever since that first “Who am I to judge a gay person?” which provoked worldwide attention to the issue of homosexual persons. At that moment we all understood, some with satisfaction and some with concern, that the homosexual issue was particularly close to your heart. We all understood, Your Holiness, that you had had that phrase in your heart for some time and had been waiting for the opportunity to be able to express it publicly. Yours was not a simple pastoral note but a declaration of wanting to change a pastoral vision that you did not find convincing.
Holy Father, it is evident that you had already decided the direction to take having probably listened to the most prominent voices dealing with this issue. You could have chosen the path of the father who consults and listens to all his children, even those who are more rigid, unrepresented and perhaps reserved. Instead, you decided to listen to only one side, the one undoubtedly more aligned with the modern world, more visible and organized.
Over the years, we have seen you address in person, with paternal welcome, your transgender and homosexual friends, singles and couples, who have had the privilege of sharing their thoughts and experiences with You. Sadly, however, we have not heard of your meetings with those who live and experience, by God’s Grace, the liberating beauty of the Catholic Magisterium for people with same-sex attractions.
We received with favor the Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to the dubium about the blessing of same-sex unions published on March 15, 2021, because it confirmed us in faith and at the same time animated us as men and women, male and female, in the journey to follow the Lord for the salvation of our souls. In fact, that Responsum states in a crystal-clear way: “in order to conform with the nature of sacramentals, when a blessing is invoked on particular human relationships, in addition to the right intention of those who participate, it is necessary that what is blessed be objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord. Therefore, only those realities which are in themselves ordered to serve those ends are congruent with the essence of the blessing imparted by the Church” and adds “the Church recalls that God Himself never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world […]. But he does not and cannot bless sin.” Only a few months later, on December 18, 2023, the same Dicastery, unfortunately, opposed itself by publishing the Declaration Fiducia Supplicans by which it bypasses and overrides “that what is blessed be objectively and positively ordained” and thus “blesses sin.” Clearly, the coexistence of the two documents is a monument to moral relativism as well as a grave offense to logic and reason.
Pope Francis, You, by defending Fiducia Supplicans to the bitter end, seem to want to plant a stake to mark a point of no return. In fact, it shows us the beginning of a path that is already marked and of which the contours can be glimpsed: the public support that you have shown for homosexual unions in the civil sphere will not fail to find consistent application in the ecclesial sphere as well, using the same pretext of preserving the doctrine on Catholic marriage.
The Church has always blessed “todos, todos, todos,” as you like to repeat, but through a canonical, liturgical, priestly, and therefore efficacious blessing. Are not homosexuals also entitled to receive this sacramental in the fullness of its potential for Grace? Holy Father, if that desire of your heart to welcome the “homosexuals who seek God” is sincere and deep, why propose a hasty blessing, emptied of its sacramental character, just because, for your personal convictions, the welcome must necessarily pass through the full acceptance, social and ecclesial, of “homosexual love,” thus borrowing a language that does not belong to us Catholics? Are you really convinced that this is the right way to devise a Catholic pastoral care that responds to the true spiritual questions of a heart with same-sex attractions?
We, in a very quiet way, think not, Pope Francis. We think there is much different and much more. We all have a special call from the Lord Jesus: to be like Him, to love as He loves us. We want to take up our Cross and follow Him because His yoke is easy and light, while the yoke of the world is hard and leads to despair. We have experienced this, Your Holiness, because we have walked those winding paths and we still bear the wounds.
We know, Holy Father, what your concerns are because they are the same as ours. You suffer, as we do, because some homosexuals are rejected by their own families because of their emotional bond with a person of the same sex. This attitude of rejection, notwithstanding good intentions, disregards the Catholic Magisterium on the subject, which is peremptory when it states that homosexuals “must be received with respect, compassion, gentleness. In their regard, every mark of unjust discrimination will be avoided.” Therefore, we agree with your concerns because we have experienced that rejection in our bones. We too, Holy Father, have sometimes been looked upon with suspicion, with condescension, with pity. or with contempt, precisely by those who love us. Today, unfortunately, we must say, we also experience that same contempt from some pastors in the Catholic hierarchy, both among those more conservative and those more progressive.
Of course, apparently Fiducia Supplicans intervenes in these problematic and painful family situations, coming to the rescue of homosexual persons rejected because of their same-sex relationship. But if you, Pope Francis, say that “homosexual love” is good and comes from God, how could a Catholic parent continue to justify a different educational vision? In fact, it is likely that this is what is happening in many Catholic families: parents apparently reconciling with their children because “Pope Francis said so with Fiducia supplicans.” This revolutionary method, however, has the flavor of meddling; it is intervening with a heavy hand against God’s command to parents to “pass on their faith to their children.” Thus is crushed that constructive dialogue between parents and children, inspired by Catholic doctrine, which is necessary for the spiritual growth of all members of the family who, called by the Lord to question themselves thoroughly on the subject of homosexuality, may become teachers of love and not of conformity. We reserve for families that educational freedom that is theirs, Holiness, without interfering with personal opinions handed down from above, however authoritative they may be. We are convinced that we will need these saintly families who have become experts in caring for, instead of continuing to ignore, emotional wounds more and more.
We resolved maybe some critical situations, certainly, but at the expense of Truth. You, Holy Father, by declaring “homosexual love” good, are taking the place of families to “solve the problem” of some painful particular case. By doing so, you may be forcing some Catholic parents to follow in the footsteps of so many who reject Fiducia supplicans, including cardinals, bishops and priests around the world, thus creating further tensions within families. You are well aware that homosexual feelings are in themselves disordered, although you do not like this language because it seems harsh and offensive to you. Would it not be more pastorally correct to “solve the problem” by practicing Truth with Charity, rather than going down the path of lying sentimentalism? Truth makes us free indeed, your Holiness. It is not an outdated saying. But lying makes us even more enslaved to a hasty and superficial ideology that has nothing to do with the Truth of Christ, let alone His Charity.
Holy Father, we aspire to the highest things, we aspire to Heaven. We don’t need such a friendly, pitying, and degrading pat on the back as Fiducia Supplicans. We too have the right to walk the path of conversion and, ultimately, have Christ Jesus make our Cross glorious.
So, in the Truth we beseech you, Holy Father: ask the relevant Dicastery to withdraw this useless and harmful document, and let us, todos, no one excluded, to devote ourselves, to start a sincere and truly effective pastoral care, in full harmony with the image of the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the wounded sheep, defends them, carries them on his shoulders and heals them, leading them back to the flock. We need good pasture, Pope Francis, we need words of Truth.
With frankness and respect.
Catholic homosexuals, their families and friends
