Episode 3： Did the Pope encourage same-sex relationships？
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
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Summary
Did the Pope encourage same-sex relationships during his visit to the United States in 2015? Did he meet with a gay man named Yayo Grassi, who had been in an active relationship with his lover for 20 years?
Transcript
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Hello and welcome to The John Henry Weston Show.
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I'm the co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSite News.
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The show is available by video on The John Henry Weston Show YouTube channel and on my
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The audio version of the show is also available on Spotify, SoundCloud, Pippa and soon to
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To subscribe for the audio version on various channels, please visit your favorite podcast
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But most important, we've created a special email list for the show so that we can notify
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Please sign up now, either on The John Henry Weston Show YouTube channel or on my LifeSite
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Every week we will also be publishing the full transcript on my LifeSite blog in case you
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However, the show was created for video in order to show you directly the evidence of
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So I encourage you first and foremost to watch the video commentaries.
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Hi, I'm John Henry Weston, co-founder and editor-in-chief of LifeSite News.
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Because at LifeSite we have called on Pope Francis to offer clarity and pointed out some
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of the confusions he's caused, some have considered LifeSite anti-Catholic.
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She was a laywoman who in her day called out the Pope even publicly, out of love for him
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And it is in that same spirit that LifeSite has taken on this difficult task.
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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It is true that several times the Pope has said marriage should be between one man and
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However, he's also confused matters gravely, especially when he came to the United States
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If you recall at the time of his visit, Kim Davis, a Kentucky County clerk, had been in
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She, after a life of failed marriages, embraced Christ and stood for his truth.
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She refused to allow her signature on marriage licenses for homosexual couples.
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In fact, she was threatened with jail if she would not comply with the court order.
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That court order, of course, rejected her right to conscientious objection.
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But heroically holding to her true beliefs, she, a mother of four children, was jailed for
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When she did meet with the Pope when he was here, Davis was advised that it was a private
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meeting and not to be made public until after the Pope left the United States.
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She was also forbidden to take photos of the meeting.
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And after the Pope's departure, her lawyer told the media about the meeting and there
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In fact, initially, the Vatican refused to confirm that the meeting had even taken place.
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And with Davis not able to furnish proof because she was forbidden to take photos and the Vatican,
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of course, refused to release photos, the media began to suggest she was lying.
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A couple of days later, when the Vatican finally did affirm that the meeting took place, things
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It was October 2nd, and then-Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi issued a statement
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saying that a brief meeting did occur, but that it, quote, should not be considered a form
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of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects, end quote.
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Father Lombardi noted that the only real audience granted by the Pope at the nunciature was with
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one of his former students and his family, end quote.
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Well, the student was Yayo Grassi, an openly gay Argentinian man who was accompanied, yes,
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by his mother and his sister, but also his male lover, Iwan Bagus.
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At this meeting, not only were photos allowed, but also video.
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And here, you can watch in this video, you can see Pope Francis greeting Yayo Grassi on
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the left, and then also embracing his homosexual partner.
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As I've said many times, we at LifeSite would love it if Pope Francis would, like Christ, visit
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But, of course, he must also be like Christ in calling sinners to the fullness of truth, to repentance.
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When Christ saved, for instance, the woman caught in adultery from stoning,
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he reminded her, go and sin no more, out of love.
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But, unfortunately, we haven't seen that with the Holy Father and Yayo Grassi, for instance,
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He's been in his active homosexual relationship with Bagus for 20 years.
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As Grassi explained on CNN, speaking of the Pope's knowledge of his homosexual relationship,
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He has never said anything negative, end quote.
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The Church's teaching on the matter is clear and loving.
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Same-sex attracted persons are encouraged to live lives of chastity like all people.
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The scriptures and the catechism warn of the grave harm of homosexual sex acts,
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Many doctors and psychologists have attested to the grave harm homosexual acts cause
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But as Catholics, the harm to the soul is even more severe,
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potentially depriving those in grave sexual sin of eternal life in heaven.
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Thus, it's only love which breaks the taboo of the secular culture
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to warn our brothers and sisters with same-sex attraction
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As the Vatican said in 1986 in an instruction to the bishops
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clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral, end quote.
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we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church's teaching
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or silence about it in an effort to provide pastoral care
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The neglect of the Church's position prevents homosexual men and women
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from receiving the care they need and deserve, end quote.
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Our motto at LifeSite is caritas in veritate, the truth in love.
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And so it's out of love for the Pope and for the faith
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that we want to call the Pope to enunciate the truth
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and said, they can't bear that, the truth in the truth.