Pope Leo Gets It Very Wrong on Sexuality

Concluding his first papal visit to the Global South, Pope Leo said some good things and some very bad things last week during an in-flight press conference.

Robert Royal of The Catholic Thing observed, “Unfortunately, on the way back to Rome on Thursday, we were treated to yet another muddled in-flight papal press conference, which grabbed headlines and has left many Catholics confused – and dismayed.”

Catholics were not the only ones confused.

Royal is referring to a specific question from a German journalist who asked the pope’s view of Germany’s Cardinal Reinhard Marx giving his priests permission to bless same-sex couples.

This is a very important question. Fidelity by every aspect of the church to Christ’s clear teaching on marriage and family is indisputable given Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 19 and Mark 10. Here some people ask our Lord some questions about marriage, and He takes them back to Genesis 1 and 2 as the authoritative foundation for all such questions. 

But today, we have a German Cardinal making a mockery of that, all in the name of “acceptance” and “tolerance.” For a member of the clergy to allow the blessing of same-sex couples is a clear violation of what Christ made clear. Marriage is a union that unites the two halves of humanity in a life-giving, life-long, exclusive covenant.

Fortunately, Pope Leo did say, “The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case, homosexual couples, as you asked.” He also said the Vatican “has already spoken to the German bishops” yet he did not specify what they were told. One hopes they were told to get in line with Christ’s teaching.

It is very good that Pope Leo said this, but he did not lead his comments with this important statement. Thus, he did not go right to the reporter’s basic question. 

Rather, he led with this garbled nonsense:

First of all, I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters. We tend to think that when the Church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue. (Our emphasis.) 

Where to start? 

“Justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion” are “much greater, more important issues” than human sexuality? This is just dumb. 

Pope Leo seems to have forgotten the importance of God’s creation itself. God’s first command to Adam and Eve as a couple was toward the procreative marital embrace. That alone indicates human sexuality is pretty important to God.

We live in an age when the family is being ravaged by redefinition, and this all revolves primarily around the very meaning of sexuality and the truth of what it means to be male and female. Sexuality and the life-giving symmetry of male and female are the very foundation of the family. And the family is the fundamental building block of human civilization. We do not have any of these other issues – justice, equality, individual freedom – without the family. So yes, sexuality clearly takes priority over all these other issues because it is foundational to human’s creation and very existence.

For Leo to say that “unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters” is to ignore the center of Christian anthropology and the very nature of the Church itself. In Ephesians 5:31-32, Paul mysteriously links the marital union of husband and wife with no less than “Christ and the church.”

Some have suggested that Focus on the Family and other Christian ministries should stand down from defending the biblical ideal of sexuality and the distinct value of male and female. They believe engaging in LGBT issues is becoming “side-tracked” from the main thing, which is the gospel.

But the holiness of God is never at odds with the grace of God. If our work to promote the gospel does not involve a defense of everything God taught, it is certainly not the gospel. Rather, it is a message that makes us feel good about never offending anyone.

We never do God any favors by trying to be more kind and accepting than He is. Our job is to be faithful to the divine Word and the life-giving order of His creation.

Additional Resources:

Why Christians Can’t Avoid the “Trans” and Gender Redefinition Issue

The Church’s Lane is the Whole Cosmos

Appreciating the Full Scope of the Lordship of Christ – and the Gospel Itself

How the “Trans” and Gender Redefinition Issue Attacks the Family