The John-Henry Westen Show - December 09, 2021


BREAKING： Pope Francis praises heretical LGBT group condemned under John Paul II


Summary

On December 8th, the National Catholic Reporter revealed that Pope Francis wrote two letters to the group New Ways Ministries, their executive director, Francis de Bernardo, on May 3rd and June 17th. The letters were on official Vatican stationery and written in Spanish.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is John Henry Weston for LifeSite News, bringing you breaking news from Rome as Pope
00:00:04.180 Francis has written, praising the heretical homosexuality-promoting group New Ways Ministry,
00:00:10.540 a group which has been condemned by the Vatican under Pope St. John Paul II. Stay tuned.
00:00:30.000 Let's begin with the sign of the cross, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:00:40.400 On December 8th, the National Catholic Reporter revealed that Pope Francis wrote two letters to the group New Ways Ministries,
00:00:48.680 their executive director, Francis de Bernardo, on May 3rd and June 17th.
00:00:54.340 The publication stated that the letters were on official Vatican stationery and written in Spanish.
00:01:00.000 The second letter from the Pope to de Bernardo, a long-time advocate, by the way, of homosexuality
00:01:07.140 and a 29-year veteran of New Ways Ministry, praised de Bernardo while also honoring New Ways Ministry co-founder,
00:01:16.180 Sister Janine Gramek. Thank you. And this is quotes from the Pope's letter.
00:01:22.180 Thank you for your neighborly work, your heart open to your neighbor, end quote.
00:01:27.140 And that was the Pope praising de Bernardo. But in reference to Gramek, who, by the way,
00:01:33.080 has a very long history of dissenting from Catholic teaching on abortion, excuse me, on homosexuality,
00:01:39.020 as well as abortion. The Pope said, and I quote,
00:01:42.300 Now the two letters earned the praise, no surprise, of prominent pro-LGBT Jesuit priest, Father James Martin,
00:01:57.980 who welcomed the letter's message. LifeSite reporter Michael Haynes notes the history of New Ways Ministries
00:02:05.720 and its two founders, Sister Janine Gramek and Father Robert Nugent.
00:02:10.460 The history involves persistent censure from ecclesial authorities.
00:02:15.680 In fact, in 1984, Cardinal James Hickey, who was then the Archbishop of Washington,
00:02:21.780 prohibited the group already in 1984 from further activities in his diocese.
00:02:26.240 And after years of examination and communication, both with Sister Gramek and Father Nugent,
00:02:32.400 the Vatican under Pope St. John Paul II, and it was Cardinal Ratzinger, actually,
00:02:38.980 who became Pope Benedict XVI.
00:02:41.520 It was under his Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, they issued a letter, a note, if you will,
00:02:47.080 in 1999, signed by Ratzinger, condemning the group and its founders,
00:02:53.640 condemning New Ways Ministries and its founders.
00:02:55.400 In fact, I'll read to you the quote from that letter. It says, quote,
00:02:58.700 The positions advanced by Sister Janine Gramek and Father Robert Nugent
00:03:02.340 regarding the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts and the objective disorder
00:03:06.920 of the homosexual inclination are doctrinally unacceptable
00:03:11.380 because they do not faithfully convey the clear and constant teaching of the Catholic Church in this area.
00:03:18.080 The note from the congregation, signed by Cardinal Ratzinger,
00:03:22.460 continued,
00:03:23.320 The ambiguities and errors of the approach of Father Nugent and Sister Gramek
00:03:28.420 have caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed the community of the Church.
00:03:35.180 For these reasons, Sister Janine Gramek and Father Robert Nugent are permanently prohibited
00:03:42.900 from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons and are ineligible for an undetermined period
00:03:50.340 for any office in their respective religious institutes, end quote.
00:03:55.840 In 2010, Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, reiterated the CDF's condemnation of the group,
00:04:04.280 writing, quote,
00:04:05.940 Like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of the Church teaching,
00:04:11.580 New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church
00:04:15.920 and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States, end quote.
00:04:23.120 I must say, this is not the first time Pope Francis has contravened constant teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality.
00:04:29.820 However, the prominence of this case, which is in direct contradiction to the Vatican under Pope St. John Paul II
00:04:38.240 and Pope Benedict XVI, will actually hopefully cause faithful bishops in the world to take notice
00:04:45.240 and defend the faith and the faithful who are being led astray.
00:04:51.320 We all recall that Pope Francis has on several occasions now backed homosexual civil unions.
00:04:56.840 Well, here are a few more instances of Pope Francis causing scandal on this issue of LGBT,
00:05:05.220 which I summarized in a video last year. Have a look.
00:05:09.720 LifeSite reporter Doug Mainwaring reported last week on Pope Francis' praise for Argentinian sister
00:05:15.200 Monica Astorga Cremona, known locally in Argentina as the Nun of the Trans.
00:05:21.020 Pope Francis' praise came in light of the nun opening a new complex of 12 small apartments,
00:05:26.260 dedicated solely to housing men claiming to be women and their sexual partners.
00:05:31.600 In his communication with Sister Cremona, the Pope referred to her transgender clients as, quote-unquote, girls.
00:05:39.780 Dear Monica, God who did not go to the seminary or study theology will repay you abundantly, said the Pope.
00:05:47.100 I pray for you and your girls, end quote.
00:05:50.880 It's not the first time Pope Francis has shown a stance opposite what the Catholic Church traditionally teaches
00:05:57.160 about the rejection of one's God-given sexual identity.
00:06:01.300 On October 2nd, 2016, Pope Francis referred to a woman who underwent a sex change operation as a man.
00:06:07.980 He referred to her having married another woman and admitted to inviting them to the Vatican in 2015,
00:06:14.080 describing the couple as happy.
00:06:16.800 And clarifying his use of pronouns, the Pope said that he, that was her, but is he.
00:06:22.540 As with most of his controversial remarks, the statements came during an in-flight press scrum.
00:06:28.040 On October 2nd, 2016, on his return flight from his papal visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan,
00:06:33.040 the Pope referred to a woman who, quote, felt like a man, but, quote, was physically a young woman, end quote.
00:06:40.340 After a sex change surgery in sometime between her 20s and 40, Pope Francis said, he got married.
00:06:48.420 And also he said, quote, he wrote me a letter saying that for him, it would be a consolation to come see me with his wife.
00:06:56.480 The Pope also said, quote, I received them and they were very happy.
00:06:59.900 And you can add to that the fact that the Pope has openly promoted one of the biggest promoters of homosexuality
00:07:07.460 and transgenderism in the Catholic Church in America, Father James Martin.
00:07:11.620 The Pope named Father Martin to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
00:07:15.800 The Pope had Martin speak at the Vatican's World Meeting of Families and also met with him personally in an audience,
00:07:21.680 the photos of which were used by Father Martin to attest to the Pope supporting his agenda,
00:07:26.960 which has garnered opposition from several U.S. bishops.
00:07:29.900 So back to what happened with these letters.
00:07:34.220 In the first letter from the Pope to the group to New Way's ministry, it was dated May 3rd,
00:07:41.140 and it was in response to an April 21st letter from the executive director, Di Bernardo, to the Pope.
00:07:47.460 In that letter, Di Bernardo explained the nature of the pro-homosexual New Way's ministry.
00:07:53.640 It said that New Way's ministry, quote,
00:07:57.360 Pope Francis wrote of a discernible, quote, attitude of shepherd closeness with New Way's ministries.
00:08:18.720 He said, again, quote,
00:08:20.420 Sometimes we receive partial information about people and organizations, and this doesn't help.
00:08:25.820 Your letter, as it narrates with objectivity its history, gives me light to better understand certain situations, end quote.
00:08:33.940 You know, what's really deplorable here is the attempt to obfuscate,
00:08:38.340 to pretend that New Way's ministry is only trying to do what faithful Catholic groups who minister to Catholics suffering from same-sex attraction do,
00:08:47.540 to help them to fight against their sinful inclinations.
00:08:51.380 New Way's ministry actively promotes homosexual marriage, and we know that at LifeSite firsthand.
00:08:57.300 LifeSite reporter Jim Hale was recently reporting on a meeting of dissident priests
00:09:01.400 and took these photos of the official New Way's ministry booth,
00:09:07.000 which, as you can see for yourself, is openly promoting homosexual marriage.
00:09:13.500 For a perspective on this from Catholics who are themselves struggling with same-sex attraction,
00:09:19.340 I wanted to show you this clip of an interview that I did with LifeSite reporter Doug Mainwaring,
00:09:24.360 who himself lived a homosexual lifestyle for a decade.
00:09:27.760 He converted from that and returned to faithfulness to Christ in his church,
00:09:32.160 and he is so happy that he did.
00:09:35.300 He describes for me in our interview his reaction to the Pope affirming a homosexual activist named Carlos Cruz in his homosexuality.
00:09:46.520 Have a listen to this.
00:09:49.220 I remember that you and I were in Rome at the time that this occurred,
00:09:54.800 when the Holy Father said this to Mr. Cruz.
00:09:59.860 And I was just stunned.
00:10:02.680 I remember I raced to write about it for LifeSite newsreaders
00:10:07.260 and called it the lie of the century
00:10:11.120 because it struck me as being just so dangerous.
00:10:15.900 It undermined so much good, you know, that's gone on in terms of teaching people who are dealing with same-sex attraction.
00:10:27.780 And, you know, my head was just reeling after hearing that.
00:10:33.600 But, again, what people with same-sex attraction need is not affirmation.
00:10:40.700 They don't need affirmation of their sexual tendencies.
00:10:45.820 They need affirmation as children of God.
00:10:49.180 I know I do, and everybody else I know who struggles with same-sex attraction does as well.
00:10:55.680 John Henry, at the time, I solicited comments from a lot of folks I know who now live chaste lives.
00:11:06.740 I asked them about what they thought about the Pope's words.
00:11:11.700 Would you mind if I read a few of those?
00:11:13.640 No, please do.
00:11:14.240 Please do.
00:11:14.620 That would be great.
00:11:15.660 Because these folks, they all had the same sort of response, the same one that I did.
00:11:22.940 One man wrote to me just how seriously, he wondered just how seriously the Holy Father takes the Church's teachings on this and other issues of sexual morality.
00:11:36.280 It is deeply disturbing to believe that leaders of the Roman Catholic Church are more concerned about winning people's affection and approval than the fate of their eternal souls.
00:11:46.780 This certainly makes it a lot harder for those of us who are same-sex attracted and trying to obey the Church's timeless teachings to do so,
00:11:55.440 or even feel like we are welcome in the new paradigm-shifting Church.
00:12:00.520 And then he went on to say,
00:12:01.900 Belonging to a Church whose leaders don't even believe in its teachings just seems kind of dumb.
00:12:08.540 And then there was another who said,
00:12:12.860 It was by connecting the crystal-clear dots of Catholic tradition and of Catholic truth that many of us were able to turn to Christ and away from the homosexual lifestyle.
00:12:25.920 Because of this, we were able to discover real peace and true freedom.
00:12:29.860 We are now praying that the clergy does not confuse our brothers and sisters with fuzzy dots that will lead them onto a bridge to nowhere.
00:12:40.520 This issue has nothing to do with hating people who are same-sex attracted.
00:12:44.900 In fact, it has everything to do with loving them enough to tell them the truth.
00:12:50.660 The truth that the homosexual lifestyle is harmful to their bodies and minds and souls.
00:12:56.080 You know, ultimately, this is all about souls.
00:13:00.800 Remember what our Lord said about catering to the body and the earthly desires?
00:13:05.320 In Matthew 8.38, it's recorded, he said, and I quote,
00:13:10.080 What good does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul? End quote.
00:13:15.860 Jesus calls us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow him.
00:13:20.240 And that's the only way to eternal life.
00:13:23.440 And yes, it's hard to deny our sinful urges.
00:13:27.280 But it's also the only way to true happiness on earth and in heaven.
00:13:33.960 For LifeSite News, this is John Henry Weston.
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