Kerala: No change in stance on homosexuality, says KCBC

KOCHI: Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) on Thursday came out with a statement in the backdrop of Pope Francis’ support of ‘same-sex civil unions’ revealed through his remarks in a documentary film, stating that ‘the teachings of the Church on family life and homosexuality have not undergone any change’.
“Reports that the Pope endorsed the validity of same sex marriages in a documentary film Francesco, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky is confusing and false.Theological teachings of the Church about marriage and family life are not conducted through documentaries,” said the KCBC statement issued by deputy secretary general Fr Jacob G Palackappilly.
“Pope Francis has taught before as well that those in the ‘state of LGBT’ are children of God and that they deserve all humanly love, care and consideration. The Church had taken a similar stand in the document released by congregation for the doctrine of faith in 1975 about sexual ethics. The Church’s stand is that homosexual predilections and homosexual activities have to be understood separately,” the KCBC statement said.
The statement goes on to claim that media reports of the Pope saying that those indulging in homosexual relations need to be given legal protection equal to a family is not right. Homosexuals living together is not considered as marriage by the Church, however, various countries have acknowledged this as a civil relationship, KCBC said in the statement.
“The pastoral needs of these persons living in such civil relationships, is a subject that the Church is seriously thinking about. The official stand of the Pope on this subject is the pastoral predilections referred to in Amoris Laetitia (Happiness of love), a post-synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis addressing the pastoral care of families. The media commission chairman of KCBC Bishop Joseph Pamplany makes it clear through this statement that the Pope has not changed this stand,” stated the KCBC statement.
According to a report in the New York Times, reiterating his view that gay people are children of God, Pope Francis said in the documentary, “Francesco,” which debuted at the Rome Film Festival: “What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.”