A Reuters headline last week, taken up and repeated elsewhere, had me disturbed and disappointed:
Catholics cannot accept gay marriage, pope says
My immediate reaction was to work out a response based on the obvious empirical falsity of the statement - the fact that Catholics can support gay marriage is easily demonstrated - because so many of them simply do. But before working out a detailed response, I thought I should first check on what he actually said, to attract the headline. On investigation, I found that there is absolutely no need to counter the Pope’s words - because he simply did not say them. Once again, the headlines about Pope Benedict’s words on gay marriage are a sub-editor’s invention.
The first thing I found, was that there is nothing in the Reuters report itself about “gay marriage” specifically. The headline misrepresents its own content. The main thrust of the article concerned an address to a gathering of young people, creating the impression that his supposed attack on gay marriage was delivered as a warning to those most likely to be affected, and most likely to support it. So, I went to the Vatican website to read the full address for myself, to track down the exact words. They were not there! Another look at the Reuters report showed me my mistake: although the main report was of the meeting with young people, the words about marriage came from a meeting with Orthodox Church leaders:
“We as Christians attach great importance to defending the integrity and the uniqueness of marriage between one man and one woman from any kind of misinterpretation,” he said.”
Is this an attack on gay marriage? Well yes, in a roundabout way. As an affirmation of support for “traditional” marriage, it is indirectly a criticism of same-sex marriage, but a pretty mild one - about as mild as he could away with, given his position. Pay attention too, to the context - he was speaking to other religious leaders, spelling out common ground.
Some LGBT sites have suggested that the motive here was to marshal support from other faith leaders to form a united front against gay marriage. Is this a reasonable interpretation? To Muslim leaders, he said,
we can offer an important witness in many key areas of life in society. I am thinking, for example, of the protection of the family based on marriage, respect for life in every phase of its natural course or the promotion of greater social justice.
Once again, this is a clear statement of support for “family” - but is even less an attack on gay marriage than the words to the Orthodox leaders - it could equally be used to support queer families. And to the Ecumenical worship service - nothing at all about marriage, traditional, same-sex or indeterminate. This doesn’t look like mobilizing faith-based resistance to gay marriage, either.
If he were truly wanting to warn of the dangers of gay marriage, to make a difference to the widespread German support for LGBT equality, he could have found far more useful contexts to make the point: when speaking to the young people themselves, as noted above; or to seminarians, he could have urged them to lead their future flocks in resistance to this supposed evil; or in talking to German politicians, or to Catholic leaders of civil society, or to those from Catholic lay organizations. He spoke to all of these groups, but in every case, he not only had nothing to say about gay marriage. In his entire German visit, with published transcripts at the Vatican website of 19 different addresses, homilies, and meetings comprising over 24 000 words, there was just one bland reference to marriage between one man and one woman. This hardly constitutes an “attack” on gay marriage.
Even more interesting to me, is that during the entire visit to Germany, there is not one word about the broader issue of homosexuality itself, or of homoerotic relationships. Zilch. Nada. Nichts.
Some people argue that his supposed “attack” on gay marriage is in itself an implied attack on all homoerotic relationships, but this is patently not so. There are many people, including committed gay Catholics (like some of my friends at the Soho Masses) who enthusiastically endorse civil unions or civil partnerships, but not the word “marriage”.
To judge from Pope Benedict’s published words on his German visit, therefore, a country where homosexuality is widely accepted, and where the city of Berlin is celebrated internationally as a major gay tourist destination, homosexuality is clearly not a major priority for the Catholic church.
On the rather more important matter of what he did say, and the significance for queer Catholics, I will have more, later.
Transcripts at Vatican website:
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Meeting of His Holiness Benedict XVI with journalists (Papal Flight, 22 September) 1690 words
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Welcoming ceremony at Bellevue Castle (22 September ) 220 words
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Visit to the Federal Parliament in the Reichstag Building (22 September ) 2668 words
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Meeting with representatives of the Jewish community (22 September ) (1079 words)
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Meeting with representatives of the Muslim community (September 23) 915 words
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Meeting with the German Evangelical Church (Erfurt, 23 September) 1339 words
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Ecumenical Celebration (Erfurt, 23 September) (1351 words)
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Marian Vespers (Etzelsbach, 23 September) (1170 words)
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Holy Mass at Domplatz (Erfurt, 24 September 2011) (1796 words)
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Greetings to the citizens gathered at Münsterplatz (Freiburg im Breisgau, 24 September ) 285 words
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Meeting with representatives of the Orthodox Churches (Freiburg im Breisgau, 24 September ) 903words
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Meeting with seminarians (Freiburg im Breisgau, 24 September 2011) 1947 words
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Prayer vigil with the young people (September 24) 1486 words
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Holy Mass, Freiburg im Breisgau (September 25) 1741 words
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Meeting with Catholics active in Church and society (25 September ) 2067 words
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Farewell ceremony at Lahr Airport (September 25, 2011) 692 words
Related articles
- Look Who’s Talking: Pope Benedict Warns Against the Abuse of Power/ (queeringthechurch.com)
- Homophobic Priests: Doctrinally Correct, Pastorally Wrong. (queeringthechurch.com)
- Pope Benedict, in Berlin: Some Difficulties With Protocol (queeringthechurch.com)
- Giovanni Franzoni on the Catholic Hierarchy’s Attempt to Coerce Civil Society as Betrayal of Vatican II (bilgrimage.blogspot.com)
- Religious groups call for gay marriages in Scotland (queertheology.blogspot.com)
I think you are right that the pope did not use his visit to Germany to stir up the Catholic faithful against the tide of the homosexual culture in particular. But I think you are reading to much into the fact that he did not speak about homosexuality by name.
As he did make clear, the pope believes marriage can only be between one man and one woman. This is not only his conviction, but the reasoned position of theology supported by tradition. If you argue that perhaps erotic homosexual relationships might be acceptable because we don’t have to call them “marriage,” then I submit Benedict would point out that erotic relationships outside of marriage are sinful no matter what kind of person is involved (man, woman, young, old, etc.).
It is wishful thinking to suspect Benedict does not believe what he himself wrote (in the Catechism and other places), with the help of orthodox theology, simply because he does not reiterate it on every trip. I believe Benedict, as pope, is trying to show the faithful the larger picture of the degradation of faith. Specifics, such as sexual immorality and the breakdown of marriage, are just part of the picture — a picture correctly framed by the dilution of the faith about which Benedict spoke. Of course, sometimes he will delve into particulars, but that is up to his judgement. It is likely he hopes local bishops and priests will take up such particulars as they are closer to the people. He is perhaps too hopeful about it.
Thanks for the clarifications here.