The John-Henry Westen Show - March 26, 2019


Episode 2： Did Pope Francis promote cohabitation before marriage？ Here's the evidence


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

131.58197

Word Count

763

Sentence Count

39

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary

Did Pope Francis promote cohabitation before marriage? In 2016, a video of a couple going hand-in-hand to meet the Pope went viral in the mainstream media. Did he actually say it? And if so, what did he mean by it?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello, and welcome to the John Henry Weston Show.
00:00:06.080 This will be a weekly show to run every Tuesday,
00:00:08.920 in which I will offer commentary on the most important news developments in the Church and culture.
00:00:13.600 We are beginning with a series laying out the hard evidence for our concerns with Pope Francis.
00:00:19.000 The show is available on the John Henry Weston Show YouTube channel and on my LifeSite blog.
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00:00:39.260 May God bless you.
00:00:48.780 Did Pope Francis promote cohabitation before marriage?
00:00:52.700 Hi, I'm John Henry Weston, co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSite News.
00:00:58.200 At LifeSite, we don't take lightly criticizing the Pope,
00:01:01.220 nor do we do so out of any kind of animosity toward him.
00:01:05.680 A holy bishop and good friend, Bishop Athanasius Schneider,
00:01:09.180 he teaches that, and I quote,
00:01:10.480 the true friends of the Pope are those cardinals, bishops, laymen,
00:01:15.020 who express their public concern about these very important issues
00:01:18.420 about the state of confusion in the Church, end quote.
00:01:22.820 Bishop Schneider said that those who perform adulation of the Pope
00:01:26.900 and deny the evidence that ambiguity in the Pope's teachings is causing confusion
00:01:31.460 are not helping the Pope, nor themselves, when they will face their final judgment.
00:01:37.360 So let's start with a short prayer.
00:01:38.880 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
00:01:44.360 Out of love and concern for his creatures, God has taught us that marriage is a necessary
00:01:50.120 prerequisite for sexual relations.
00:01:52.080 The Catechism at number 2353 teaches, and I quote,
00:01:56.080 However, on June 16, 2016, Pope Francis said something to the priests of Rome
00:02:25.080 which went viral in the mainstream media.
00:02:27.880 He seemed to promote cohabitation.
00:02:31.160 And I know that sounds impossible, but here's the video of him saying it.
00:02:35.340 He actually didn't even only say it once.
00:02:55.420 On February 25th, 2017, he made similar remarks speaking to the Roman rhoda.
00:03:01.960 And one of his closest advisors, his most frequent interviewer, Jesuit priest Antonio Spadaro,
00:03:08.040 tweeted out this photo of a couple going hand-in-hand to meet the Pope.
00:03:12.800 The caption on the photo, as you can see, contains the words of the Pope,
00:03:16.740 the welcoming of those young people who prefer to live together without getting married.
00:03:22.860 Beyond the Church's teaching, social science has demonstrated the harm of cohabitation.
00:03:28.920 Writing at LifeSite, Dr. Patrick Schneider cited numerous studies to show cohabitation is,
00:03:34.300 as he said, quote,
00:03:35.700 The rate of divorce among those who cohabit prior to marriage is nearly double that of couples who marry without prior cohabitation.
00:03:48.280 Men in cohabiting relationships are four times more likely to be unfaithful than husbands.
00:03:54.000 The rate of sexually transmitted diseases among cohabiting couples is six times higher than among married women.
00:04:01.080 And children suffer the most.
00:04:04.160 The poverty rate among children of cohabiting couples is five-fold greater than the rate among children in married couple households.
00:04:12.680 Compared to children of married biological parents,
00:04:16.080 children aged 12 to 17 with cohabiting parents are six times more likely to exhibit emotional and behavioral problems.
00:04:23.340 Adolescents from cohabiting households are 122% more likely to be expelled from school and 90% more likely to have a low GPA.
00:04:35.500 For the faith and for our children, we must charitably but firmly call out Pope Francis on these confusing and erroneous teachings,
00:04:43.980 which distort the faith and harm the faithful.
00:04:47.080 Pope St. John Paul II described the harm of cohabitation in his exhortation, Familiaris Consortio.
00:04:54.760 Cohabitation, he says, presents the Church with arduous pastoral problems,
00:04:59.580 and he described the serious consequences as, quote,
00:05:03.420 the loss of the religious sense of marriage, seen in the light of the covenant of God with his people,
00:05:09.160 deprivation of the grace of the sacrament, grave scandal, end quote.
00:05:13.680 He also listed social consequences, and I quote again,
00:05:17.520 the destruction of the concept of the family, the weakening of the sense of fidelity,
00:05:21.860 also towards society, possible psychological damage to children, and strengthening of selfishness, end quote.
00:05:29.400 Our motto at LifeSite is caritas in veritate, the truth in love.
00:05:34.600 And so it's out of love for the Pope that we want to call him to enunciate the truth
00:05:39.060 and correct the errors he has taught, which have harmed the faithful.
00:05:43.980 For LifeSite News, I'm John Henry Beston, and may God bless you.