VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has once again written to prominent pro-LGBT Jesuit Father James Martin, praising the priest for his LGBT advocacy and offering support for a pro-LGBT conference Martin is scheduled to hold.
The letter was dated May 6, 2023, and was written by hand by the Pope, in Spanish. Outreach, Martin’s own “LGBTQ Catholic resource” group, released an image of the letter on June 14, along with translations of the Pope’s words.
Addressing Martin as “dear brother” – as has become Francis’ norm in the now not infrequent letters he sends to the American Jesuit – the Pope wrote:
Thank you very much for your email. Thank you for all the good you are doing. Thank you!
I pray for you, please do so for me.
I send my best regards to the members of the meeting at Fordham University. Thank you for delivering it to them. In my prayers and good wishes are you and all who are working at the Outreach Conference.
Again, thank you, thank you for your witness.
May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin take care of you.
Fraternally,
Francisco
As noted by the Pope, the letter comes on the occasion of the now-annual Outreach conference, due to be held at New York’s Fordham University, June 16 though 18. This year’s event will feature a number of addresses by Martin, along with other notorious, heterodox LGBT “Catholic” advocates, including:
- Dawn Eden Goldstein
- Sr. Jeannine Grammick
- Father Bryan Massingale
- Michael J. O’Loughlin
- Juan Carlos Cruz – the openly homosexual member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and confidant of Pope Francis
- Archbishop John Wester
On the occasion of each of the recent three conferences Martin and subsequently Outreach have held, Pope Francis has sent a letter – either prior to the event, or in retrospect.
Liberal bishops around the world continue promoting heterodox views on homosexuality, female priests, divorce, contraception, and more — advancing anti-Catholic positions that jeopardize the salvation of souls.
Such bishops often sideline, ignore and even persecute traditional Catholics who simply ask that the Faith be preserved and passed on to their children.
But traditional Catholics cannot be silenced any longer, which is why we are uniting in this international boycott of modernist bishops and dioceses until the deposit of Faith is upheld by the hierarchy again.
SIGN: We will not fund modernist bishops or priests who undermine the Catholic Faith, but rather direct our contributions towards faithful clergy and orders that work for the salvation of souls.
There are countless examples of bishops working against Christ’s Church in calling for divine law to be ignored in favor of sexual, doctrinal and liturgical deviancy, even trying to clamp down on Catholics who practise the Faith.
Just last year, Cardinal Cupich banned traditional prayers after Mass, and more recently has curtailed the Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese.
Cardinal Cupich has banned the Hail Mary and St Michael Prayer after Mass
Who but a devil would ban these prayers after Mass
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) August 27, 2021
The attack on the Faith is out in the open, with modernist bishops causing scandal in countless ways:
We have seen enough. Now is the time to show true Catholic unity against those who undermine the Faith – do not be bullied into submission by these men who would disfigure Christ’s Church.
JOIN THE BOYCOTT & SHARE! Tell everyone you know to STOP giving money to bishops who attack the Catholic Faith.
“We therefore commit to a financial boycott of modernist bishops until the hierarchy resolves to uphold the entire deposit of Faith.”
If the bishops refuse to uphold and protect the teaching of Christ’s Bride, the Catholic Church, then we must refuse to support them until they repent.
Thank you
P.S. — Demanding that liberal bishops be held to account through financial boycott will help save the Church from doctrinal and pastoral ruin. This is the first step in restoring the Faith for future generations. Our time is now, so please join us by signing today!
Photos: Pope Francis. Flickr. Long Thiên; Cardinal Cupich. Flickr. Goat_Girl; Collection Plate: Lisa F. Young/Shutterstock
READ: Rainbow cross that has ‘LGBTQ+’ in place of ‘INRI’ is the ultimate mockery of Christ
In 2021, just prior to the online LGBT conference, Francis wrote to Martin thanking him for his “pastoral zeal” and “ability to be close to people, with that closeness that Jesus had and that reflects the closeness of God.” The Pope described Martin’s LGBT advocacy as being an imitation of the “style of God.”
Outreach was then launched on May 1, 2022, and only days later Francis replied to a letter Martin sent him in which he argued that a “selective” Church is “a sect,” and decrying what he styled as the Church’s “rejection” of “LGBT Catholic[s].”
READ: Cardinal Dolan endorses Fr. James Martin’s new LGBT activism group
Francis decried “rejection from the Church,” saying that for LGBT individuals “I would have them recognize it not as ‘the rejection of the Church,’ but instead of ‘people in the Church.’ The Church is a mother and calls together all her children.”
Following the June 2022 conference, Francis again wrote to Martin last August after the Jesuit priest had sent the Pontiff details about the 2022 conference. Francis praised Martin for “working in the culture of encounter,” which, he said, “shortens distances and enriches us with our differences, just as Jesus did.”
Some months later, the two Jesuits met in the Vatican in what was at least their fourth encounter, and second substantial meeting. The November 10 private meeting lasted 45 minutes, during which time the pair covered topics including “the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties, of LGBTQ Catholics.”
The following day, Francis addressed the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications, with Martin present, since he has been one of 12 consultors who advise the Dicastery for Communications since April 2017, and was re-appointed for another five-year term last August.
Francis praised Martin for his style as a “communicator” as well as for his instruction on “how to pray” – as contained in a 2021 book the Jesuit priest wrote.
READ: Fr. James Martin’s pro-gay advocacy hurts same-sex attracted Catholics
“Read it, because this teaches you how to pray,” said Francis about Martin’s book. “A man who has values, a communicator who also knows how to teach you the way of communication with God. That’s what being a communicator is all about. To go, to walk, to risk, with values, convinced that I am giving my life with my values, Christian values and human values.”
Martin’s favor with Pope Francis comes alongside his longstanding record of promoting LGBT ideology in dissent from Catholic teaching.
The Jesuit priest is described as “arguably the most prominent activist” in the Church for LGBT issues.
READ: Fr. James Martin refers to God as ‘her,’ attacks so-called ‘damaging’ portrayal of God as man
Among his most notorious actions, Martin has promoted an image drawn from a series of blasphemous, homoerotic works, showing Christ as a homosexual, promoted same-sex civil unions, and has described viewing God as male as “damaging.”
Despite this, the Vatican invited him to speak at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Dublin on “Exploring how Parishes can support those families with members who identify as LGBTI+.”
Yet such actions on the part of Martin and Pope Francis do not align with Catholic teaching. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) 1986 document “On the pastoral care of homosexual persons” also rebuffs the Pope’s version of “outreach,” writing that a “truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin.”
The CDF adds:
But we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church’s teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral. Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church’s position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.
READ: Pope Francis says Church must fight anti-sodomy laws and bishops who support them need conversion
However, since the CDF’s March 2021 responsum condemning same-sex “blessings,” Pope Francis has made numerous public statements praising and supporting advocates of LGBT ideology and same-sex civil unions. This has only continued unabated in recent months, particularly aided by the spate of interviews given for his 10-year anniversary on the papal throne, in which he made repeated comments against anti-sodomy laws.