| Advertisement |
VATICAN CITY, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The far-right wing of the Catholic church is in a fury after a married couple lecturing the Synod about sexuality condemned institutionalized homophobia within the Catholic church to the group of Cardinals. Pope Francis invited Australian married couple Ron and Mavis Pirola to discuss the relationship between human sexuality and Catholicism, and explain the importance of sex within their 55-year marriage.
Advertisement
When the devout Catholics were first married, they turned to the Humane Vitae -- Pope Paul VI's writings on sexuality and marriage -- but found it was mostly useless as anything but a historical study.
"[The Humane Vitae] seemed to be from another planet, with difficult language and not terribly relevant to our own experiences," the Pirolas explained to the group of nearly 200 cardinals and bishops.
The Pirolas went on to tell a story about a group of Catholic friends who enriched their family life and defied the church's order to stigmatize homosexuality by welcoming their gay son's partner into the family without prejudice or hesitation.
"They fully believed in the church's teachings and they knew their grandchildren would see them welcome the son and his partner into the family. Their response could be summed up in three words: 'He's our son.' What a model of evangelization for parishes as they respond to similar situations in their neighborhood. It is a practical example of what the Instrumentum laboris says concerning the Church's teaching role and its main mission to let the world know of God's love."
Although met "very warmly" and "with applause" by the Synod, the Pirolas' statements have drawn the ire of the far-right Catholics, who are increasingly at odds with Pope Francis for not sharing their vitriol for same-sex couples.
"The unqualified welcome of homosexual couples into family and parish environments in fact damages everybody, by serving to normalize the disorder of homosexuality," Maria Madise of anti-gay Catholic group Voice of the Family vented on the groups' WordPress blog.
"It damages children by presenting homosexual relationships as models which may legitimately be chosen. It damages adults by making them complicit in tacit endorsements of the immoral and dangerous homosexual lifestyle. And it damages the homosexual couples themselves by failing to guide them with the truth in charity -- that their relationship is gravely harmful for their moral and spiritual health.
John Smeaton of the London-based anti-gay group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children echoed Madise's feelings of alienation, saying, "The homosexual agenda is forcing its way into schools, universities, workplaces and sports clubs. The last thing families and parishes need is for Church leaders to tell them to welcome homosexual couples."
