The John-Henry Westen Show - NOW in Rome： Married Priesthood Next On Pope Francis' Agenda？

00:00:00.000 Their main priority is ensuring that the Catholic Church is providing a blessing to homosexuals, 0.98

00:00:06.000 a sin which the Bible knows is one of those that cries out to God.

00:00:17.060 And we are back with Rome coverage with Rome correspondent Michael Haynes.

00:00:21.600 We've got some interesting things this week because Pope Francis made a statement.

00:00:25.700 If you remember a few weeks ago, he made a statement about how Pope Benedict kind of supported him on his take on sexual orientations.

00:00:33.340 And then that was proven, of course, false. In fact, the opposite.

00:00:36.120 Something similar happened with regard to marriages this week.

00:00:39.620 He was talking about the easy dissolvability of marriage and how Benedict would have backed him on that.

00:00:45.720 He also spoke about priestly celibacy, basically calling it, you know, something that is totally changeable.

00:00:52.440 And it seemed to sound like something that can be totally done away with, even in the Roman right.

00:00:57.980 We're going to get to that. But also, very interestingly, he did condemn gender ideology.

00:01:05.360 So that's very confusing, especially because of what he's done in practice.

00:01:09.900 In addition to that, we have the German bishops.

00:01:13.100 Michael Haynes wrote a fascinating piece about what's going on in the German bishops' conference, talking about how the vote in the German bishops' conference to allow for homosexual blessings was 38 to 9.

00:01:27.880 Do you remember all the talk from some priests, Father Altman used to say it too, about the huge number of bishops that are either homosexual themselves, that means practicing homosexuals, or at least homosexualists, in that they are, you know, supportive of it. 0.67

00:01:43.520 He talked about more than 50%, and people were like, oh, come on, that's just such an exaggeration.

00:01:50.140 Get this, how then is the vote 38 to 9 in favor of same-sex blessings in Germany?

00:01:57.880 There's more to it because there were some abstentions and whatnot, but nonetheless, 38 to 9, 38 approving, only 9 opposed.

00:02:05.620 In addition to that, the head of the German bishops' conference has basically said, yeah, we're going forward with it.

00:02:13.340 We don't care what anybody else thinks, including Rome.

00:02:16.600 All that and more on this episode of the John Henry Weston Show with Rome correspondent Michael Haynes.

00:02:21.720 Stay tuned.

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00:04:21.820 Michael, welcome back to the program.

00:04:23.540 Thank you very much, John Henry. Good to be back with you.

00:04:26.080 Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.

00:04:28.240 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

00:04:34.120 All right, Michael, so start us off, if you will.

00:04:36.180 This first thing about the, you know, claim of Francis getting backing from Benedict with regard to this concept.

00:04:46.180 So he spoke about marriages and he really appeared to open the door for a very, very easy, quick process

00:04:54.920 to dissolve marriages.

00:04:56.480 So he claims that Pope Benedict supports him in this.

00:05:01.960 So what Pope Francis stated, I'll just get my notes here to get the quotes right for you.

00:05:08.080 So Pope Francis, talking about marriages, particularly young marriages, he says that when these young people say forever,

00:05:14.520 who knows what they mean by forever?

00:05:16.260 And Benedict said that because of this lack of conscience, a large part of them are invalid.

00:05:23.140 So it's quite interesting then, if you actually examine what Pope Benedict says,

00:05:28.360 it's completely almost the opposite of what Pope Francis is saying.

00:05:32.120 So Pope Francis then doubles down.

00:05:34.460 He mentions that Pope Benedict apparently was arguing that a great number of marriages are invalid due to a lack of faith.

00:05:42.220 So it's quite interesting to break it down.

00:05:45.440 If you, he, firstly, he doesn't specify what that lack of faith is in.

00:05:50.480 Is it a lack of faith in God or say a lack of faith in the sacrament?

00:05:55.980 I think if you were to give him the benefit of the doubt, let's say it's a lack of faith in God.

00:06:02.160 But Pope Benedict is not actually mentioning that.

00:06:05.440 So Pope Benedict had a little bit of a development in thought from the time that he was prefect of the CDF

00:06:14.820 to then his writings and statements on it, on the matter when he was Pope.

00:06:21.320 So his last statement on this was in his 2013 address, just before he resigned,

00:06:29.040 in his 2013 address to the Raymond Rota.

00:06:31.080 And he's talking about marriage and about lack of faith and how you take those into account.

00:06:37.000 And he quite explicitly says, and I quote,

00:06:39.860 I certainly do not intend to suggest any easy automatisation between deficiency of faith

00:06:45.840 and invalidity of the marriage union.

00:06:48.800 So very, very clearly he's opposing Pope Francis' argument there

00:06:53.300 that a wide number of marriages are automatically invalid.

00:06:57.680 There's a very fine process to be followed in order to make that discernment.

00:07:04.880 Now, Pope Benedict quoted from Pope John Paul II in this address.

00:07:10.060 And he stated, and I'll quote again,

00:07:13.280 an attitude of the betrothed that does not take into account the supernatural dimension in marriage

00:07:18.920 can render it null and void only if it affects its validity on the natural plane in which the sacramental sign is placed.

00:07:27.620 Now, an interesting part is that in 2005, very early in his pontificate,

00:07:33.960 Pope Benedict actually revealed that when he was prefect of the CDF,

00:07:37.980 he had had a little bit more confusion on the question than he had at that time.

00:07:43.600 I mean, he revealed that he'd actually asked, he'd asked bishops' conferences around the world

00:07:49.840 and theologians to examine the question of a lack of faith and how does that affect marriages.

00:07:56.720 He also, in 1999, he penned a document as head of the CDF

00:08:02.260 on dealing with objections to the Church's teaching on the reception of Holy Communion by the divorced and remarried.

00:08:12.620 And I quote here, but he states, and I quote,

00:08:17.340 further study is required concerning the question of whether non-believing Christians,

00:08:24.000 baptised persons who never or who no longer believe in God,

00:08:27.660 can truly enter into sacramental marriage.

00:08:29.540 So, at that point, he was asking for further thought on the matter,

00:08:34.540 but then, as Pope, he clarified that the problem was actually much more complicated than he thought.

00:08:39.480 It wasn't an easy yes or no answer.

00:08:43.180 But, despite that, Pope Francis appears to be trying to use Pope Benedict's words,

00:08:49.740 which he actually didn't state,

00:08:51.240 and just to claim that a wide variety of marriages are invalid

00:08:54.900 just because of some unspecified reason, really.

00:09:00.900 It's a very interesting thing.

00:09:02.820 We've got two concepts here.

00:09:05.480 Faith in God or faith in marriage or acknowledgement of what the sacrament is.

00:09:10.920 No one is saying that, you know, there can be no valid annulments.

00:09:15.280 There can be no valid, improper marriages.

00:09:18.540 But, what we are saying is that, and what the church is saying,

00:09:23.680 is that you can't say, well, they didn't know enough about God,

00:09:27.220 they didn't believe enough in God so that their marriage is invalid.

00:09:30.280 The invalidity would have to come with the natural state of marriage. 0.83

00:09:35.720 In other words, before the sacrament even, just in the commitment to one another.

00:09:39.360 And so, if there is some thought, for instance, that they're entering is just, you know,

00:09:47.580 we want to do this for the weekend, that would be a lack of faith in, you know,

00:09:53.820 the actual marriage right or whatever, rather than a lack of faith in God.

00:10:00.280 Is that the distinction?

00:10:01.300 Yes, it appears to be, and he appears to expand on that.

00:10:06.300 As you say, if you have something very clear where it's, you're just going to get married,

00:10:10.840 I don't know, as you say, for a weekend for some schoolish reason, for a bet or something,

00:10:16.260 that shows a complete lack of understanding of what marriage is.

00:10:21.080 But what seems to be that the danger here is that Pope Francis is trying to open up the door here

00:10:26.820 to allowing people to say, well, my marriage isn't valid, or so-and-so down the road,

00:10:32.320 their marriage isn't valid, based on aspects which are very, actually, very hard to define.

00:10:39.280 He even makes this really, really troubling claim that there may be marriages which are invalid,

00:10:45.680 and he quotes, the direct quote is, that they, quote, may not be able to prove it,

00:10:52.280 which appears to go directly against the judge's canon law,

00:10:56.000 because 1060, you can go and check it out, but it states that marriage possesses the favor of law.

00:11:03.240 In the case of doubt, validity of marriage must be upheld until the contrary is proven.

00:11:09.400 Pope Francis is trying to say, it may be valid, it may not be.

00:11:12.800 We don't know, and it could be invalid, even if you have no evidence.

00:11:20.260 It's undermining the sacrament itself.

00:11:23.180 It undermines the process by which young men and women enter the sacrament,

00:11:28.680 if he's going to take that position, really.

00:11:31.040 It's a sad thing, because it relates back to easy annulments for a long time,

00:11:36.740 and the Pope, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict both complained that this was going on.

00:11:41.680 It was basically, you know, it was a Catholic form of divorce, 0.81

00:11:44.180 because it was ridiculous, the way annulments were being handed out, almost like candy.

00:11:49.220 So, you do end up doing very grave harm to the sacrament, but also to married couples, 1.00

00:11:55.300 who, in times of hardship, then begin to wonder about the validity of their marriages.

00:12:02.080 And so, it's a very troublesome thing.

00:12:04.680 You know, couples struggling should be able to call on the grace of marriage,

00:12:08.920 not wonder if their marriage is valid or not.

00:12:13.660 So, very damaging things, indeed.

00:12:17.100 But the calling of, you know, Benedict as if, you know, supporting his thesis,

00:12:22.800 which, when he's talking the opposite, that's kind of a concerning thing,

00:12:28.400 and we've seen that over and over again.

00:12:30.100 In fact, just a few weeks ago with regard to same-sex unions in another interview that he gave.

00:12:37.660 When he was talking, then, about priestly celibacy, also something, again, a complicated issue,

00:12:46.700 because he raises the, you know, married priesthood in the Eastern Rite and talks about that.

00:12:55.540 Give us some clarity.

00:12:56.280 What did he say, and how does that play out in Catholic thought?

00:13:01.580 So, he was expanding on celibacy, and he was asked about whether or not that could be a subject for change or a vision in the upcoming years.

00:13:13.840 And so, he stated there's no contradiction for a priest to marry.

00:13:17.960 He said celibacy in the Western Church is a temporary prescription.

00:13:22.300 He said it's not an eternal aspect, like the priestly ordination, which confers the priestly estate.

00:13:33.200 So, he just called celibacy the discipline.

00:13:37.480 And then, he was then asked again, specifically, could this be revised?

00:13:40.880 And he said, well, yeah.

00:13:42.000 So, he's mentioned this a couple of times over the last few years.

00:13:51.280 Again, in quite a number of interviews, he's probed on whether or not celibacy could be revised.

00:13:57.880 And he often comes back to this argument that, well, it's just a law.

00:14:02.020 And as we've seen with many other things, say, like with marriage, or with many of his statements, he strays his foot over the line, creating that confusion, and suggesting that at some point soon, we'll be revising this teaching.

00:14:16.700 But this is very, very dangerous, particularly in light of, especially in light of the German Church, the Synodal Way, where you have very strong liberal forces who are arguing for female deacons, or for married priests, or for transsexual deacons or priests. 0.61

00:14:39.360 For Pope Francis, then, to casually suggest that the rule of celibacy is just, you know, something that could change, at will, or change as the Church goes into a new age or not.

00:14:53.120 So, let's delve into that, because in the Eastern Church, it is permitted, which he mentions.

00:14:59.000 But there's some rules around that.

00:15:00.860 In the Eastern Church, that's the Catholic Church, you can't get married if you're already a priest.

00:15:07.760 You can, however, if already married, become a priest.

00:15:12.900 So, that's the way they have it in the Eastern Catholic Churches, in some of them.

00:15:17.600 But you also cannot become a bishop if you are married.

00:15:23.280 So, there is a distinction there.

00:15:25.920 They recognize still that the proper or best form is to conform yourself as a priest to Jesus Christ himself, who, of course, was unmarried.

00:15:35.620 St. Paul says very clearly in the Scriptures,

00:15:37.760 I, you know, I wish that you were, as me, in other words, a celibate.

00:15:42.560 And it is very clear from the Church's perennial teaching that that is the superior way.

00:15:48.560 It, you know, to give oneself in that way to the Lord is a higher calling.

00:15:55.960 But, you know, it is one that is proper for priests.

00:15:59.320 And I know there's the permission, but even the Eastern Church acknowledges that the best way is celibacy.

00:16:06.720 Yeah, exactly.

00:16:07.700 I think your reference there to sacred scripture is one of the more beautiful arguments that the call to the priesthood is not like a call to another role in the rest of the world.

00:16:21.260 It's a call apart to something where you are a father of souls and you're ministering to all those around you.

00:16:28.380 And very much that involves, if it's to be Christ-like, whose love was a sacrificial love, which involved him dying for us on the cross.

00:16:38.800 The priesthood then has to imitate that Christ-like love, which is sacrificial, which is a death to oneself and to the world. 0.88

00:16:47.320 And to, therefore, deny oneself the natural inclinations towards marriage and to follow Christ in that very particular, very, very beautiful vocation, which is the celibate state.

00:17:01.660 And this is, I think, something which has cropped up time and time again as a means to attack the church from those who hate the church within the church or without the church.

00:17:14.800 Because the celibacy of the sacred priesthood is something so beautiful that opponents of the church really see it as one of the main goals to destroy completely.

00:17:26.900 Because once you remove the priesthood as something set apart, as a state of life which you have to sacrifice so much for, then the church becomes like a normal organization, a normal business with branches in different parts of the world and its positions of authority and are no longer held by those who sacrifice everything in order to follow Christ.

00:17:53.260 Yes. Well, I mean, think about this situation practically. Look, I'm a dad of eight kids.

00:18:00.400 If you think about the priesthood, and I don't mean those who consider the priesthood a job. I put in my nine to five and I'm done. That's nonsense.

00:18:09.560 The life of a priest is given to Christ wholly and fully. And if you follow around the priests who are totally in love with Jesus, who give themselves to this work, they're on like 24-7.

00:18:22.520 They are sought out by many of the faithful who need confessions, sometimes help.

00:18:29.820 They're called in the middle of the night to give the last rites to dying people.

00:18:33.580 They are in confessions for hours at a time, sometimes every day.

00:18:37.960 That's in addition to all the masses and the preparation they have to do.

00:18:40.660 But they also have a life of prayer.

00:18:42.000 They have a life where they pray the divine office every day.

00:18:46.540 They're praying for hours a day.

00:18:48.420 There's not enough hours in a day to be a priest, let alone to have a family.

00:18:53.340 It's practically impossible.

00:18:56.420 So there's very good reason.

00:18:57.940 I mean, some are doing that, Eastern Rite and those who have converted from other, you know, Anglicanism and or Protestantism of some kind.

00:19:07.880 And they're doing heroic service.

00:19:10.380 I don't besmirch them at all.

00:19:12.040 But I think almost all of them to a man will be ready to say, obviously, the celibate state is the proper way.

00:19:21.820 And yep, there are exceptions, but it is the proper way.

00:19:24.820 And so this kind of talk about, yeah, it can be done away with, meh, it's not a big deal.

00:19:29.220 And it's very dangerous indeed.

00:19:31.880 Yeah, it reduces it to something that's there, just for the sake of being there, in the sense that, I don't know, there could be a rule in the seminary about what fasting requirements are to be adhered to during Lent.

00:19:46.100 But just a particular rule for that seminary, it kind of compares the celibate priesthood to that as something that we can change,

00:19:53.560 because there's no greater theological meaning to it, so we can change it if we feel like it.

00:19:58.900 And that, as you say, is very against what the church has always taught, because if the church notices what doesn't notice,

00:20:07.140 it loves and protects that deeply theological beauty of the celibate priesthood, which is in the imitation of Christ.

00:20:14.340 Some of you may remember, or perhaps even newly appreciate, the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

00:20:22.460 He is considered one of the greatest communicators in the modern era and stands as a great example for all of us in what it means to work in Catholic broadcasting.

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00:21:13.900 That's radiomaria.us.

00:21:16.720 And now, back to the program.

00:21:18.300 One of the stunning things you wrote about last week was just, or this week actually, was the vote at the German synodal meetings where they approved the blessing of same-sex marriages.

00:21:33.800 Now, that's a bit of an old news, but new is that number.

00:21:39.640 The breakdown of votes among the bishops, I thought, is stunning, particularly because of what I said in the intro there about how people used to say, oh, there's like 50% of the bishops who are either practicing homosexuals themselves or homosexualists and that they agree with homosexuality and encourage it and whatnot.

00:21:56.000 And everybody thought 50%, as Father Altman would say, or higher, oh, come on.

00:22:03.060 But the vote?

00:22:04.160 What was the vote?

00:22:05.540 Well, exactly.

00:22:06.140 The vote of the bishops was 38 to 9.

00:22:09.800 Let me just double check if that's absolutely correct.

00:22:11.680 Yeah, 38 to 9 of the bishops in a similar way.

00:22:15.020 Yeah.

00:22:15.360 And there was what?

00:22:16.040 11 abstentions.

00:22:16.940 Is that right?

00:22:18.780 11 abstentions.

00:22:20.020 Absolutely.

00:22:20.560 Yeah.

00:22:20.740 So, 38 to 9, the vast majority of them who approve it, only 9 dare to oppose.

00:22:36.080 You're talking not even a quarter.

00:22:38.380 And then there's 11 abstentions who are like, meh, whatever, I'm not going to say anything.

00:22:43.420 That's just stunning.

00:22:44.280 I think you're right.

00:22:45.880 You have to ask, why are these bishops so keen on promoting the same-sex blessings, or also keen on promoting this normally very undefined inclusion of homosexuality, which generally just means accepting homosexuals and homosexual behaviour? 0.72

00:23:04.060 So, it's a very peculiar, a very disturbing state of the church when you have bishops who have responsibility, not just their own souls, for the souls of their priests, but for the souls of all the faithful in whose priests' parishes and in their diocese.

00:23:21.120 And it seems that their main priority is ensuring that the Catholic Church is providing a blessing to homosexuals, a sin which the Bible knows is one of those that cries out to God. 0.99

00:23:33.640 Now, Catholic teaching is very clear that there is a condemnation of homosexuality. 0.55

00:23:38.440 There's not a condemnation of people with homosexual tendencies. 0.66

00:23:41.380 The document which they approved was the blessings for couples who love each other, and that's going to include homosexuals. 1.00

00:23:47.920 So, what they're doing by that is just approving blessings for people who are actively engaging in a homosexual lifestyle. 0.97

00:23:56.280 So, there is this massive lack of concern among the bishops for leading these people down the road to hell, and maybe they don't believe that anymore.

00:24:07.300 To be frank, they probably don't.

00:24:09.940 And all charity thinking about them and their stance voting for this, they don't think they're leading them to hell.

00:24:13.620 But they know they're allowing them or leading them or assisting them, encouraging them even.

00:24:21.480 In a behavior that's physically harmful, it's psychologically harmful, but maybe they say it's only psychologically harmful because everybody condemns it.

00:24:29.860 Let's give them every argument, but the physical is still there.

00:24:34.680 So, there's no way they can claim, oh, they want to be charitable, they want to be good and loving.

00:24:39.300 No, they're not.

00:24:40.780 Any parent, when they know their children are doing something that is harmful for them, even if they think they like it, will stop them from doing it.

00:24:50.460 You don't let your children eat chocolate all day, every day, and then complain of the cavity pain because you love them.

00:24:58.060 And they're going to complain when you take the chocolate away.

00:25:01.340 They are.

00:25:02.340 But you do it anyway because you love them.

00:25:03.940 And that's parenting.

00:25:05.180 That's hard, but it's parenting.

00:25:07.220 If you don't care, just, you know, give them all the chocolate they want.

00:25:12.620 Who cares?

00:25:13.540 Who cares?

00:25:14.180 Because you know what?

00:25:15.280 He's not complaining to me.

00:25:17.160 That's not love.

00:25:19.300 So, very concerning indeed.

00:25:21.060 But there is more.

00:25:23.360 You were writing on, you know, even recently about a new video out from the head of the German bishops talking about what they're going to do.

00:25:33.380 Fill us in, please.

00:25:33.920 This was Bishop Georg Batsing.

00:25:36.420 So, he's the head of, as you say, the German bishops' conference.

00:25:39.740 And he was interviewed by the media shortly after the vote was taken.

00:25:44.480 And the media were pressing him, asking, are you not going in opposition to the Vatican and to Pope Francis by your advocacy for same-sex blessings?

00:25:55.740 It's very interesting to watch how Bishop Batsing responds.

00:25:59.540 He tries to argue that if there was a good in a relationship, then this is something that we can bless.

00:26:08.700 And that he's pressed again on, are you not forging ahead a path that's in contradiction to the Pope?

00:26:15.120 And Bishop Batsing responds, well, we're going to do it here.

00:26:19.880 You know what, that's so stunning, it's worth watching.

00:26:23.320 Now, it's in German, but there are subtitles in English.

00:26:26.400 Take a look at this, watch his body language, read these questions and his answers.

00:26:31.020 It's stunning.

00:26:31.760 And this is why we have the talk that they're going to go into schism.

00:26:37.200 Now, that's said, though, by people who believe, I guess, that Pope Francis will actually do something and have to sort of regretfully tell them they're in schism.

00:26:47.780 I don't think so, but watch it.

00:26:51.280 Homosexuelle Paare, Paare, die geschieden und wiederverheiratet sind, Paare, die um den Segen bitten, das ist etwas, was wir hier tun.

00:26:59.020 Ja, das können Sie hier tun, aber das Problem ist, dass der Vatikan dazu bisher immer gesagt hat, es sei nicht erlaubt, homosexuelle Partnerschaften zu segnen.

00:27:07.840 Heißt das, Sie setzen sich jetzt quasi über den Papst hinweg?

00:27:13.160 Zunächst einmal muss man sagen, die Praxis der Segnung gibt es und wir wollen sie ans Licht holen.

00:27:18.620 Und das heißt, dass wir Bischöfe uns dazu positionieren und sagen, es ist gut, dass wir das tun.

00:27:25.100 Was in einer Beziehung zwischen zwei Menschen in einer Partnerschaft gut ist, das kann auch den Segen Gottes bekommen.

00:27:32.600 Das ist nur folgerichtig.

00:27:34.640 Und wir haben heute gehört aus der belgischen Kirche, dass dies dort auch schon umgesetzt ist und dass das sogar mit Rom bereits besprochen ist.

00:27:44.860 Ja, Ihr Kollege aus Belgien hat gesagt, er habe das so quasi so nebenbei irgendwie durchgekriegt.

00:27:51.340 Aber ist denn das wirklich das, was Sie wollen, nämlich, wie Sie gerade gesagt haben, es ans Licht holen, weil es gut ist?

00:27:57.260 Sind Sie ganz sicher, dass der Papst das ganz genauso sieht?

00:27:59.460 Wir werden es hier umsetzen.

00:28:05.560 Wir haben dazu ganz intensiv gearbeitet.

00:28:09.100 Wir haben ja in vier Foren gearbeitet mit zig Personen aus dem Synodalen Weg, mit Expertinnen.

00:28:17.260 Und Experten haben solide Texte erstellt, in denen die Argumentationen, die zu unseren Beschlüssen führen, ja sehr ausführlich dargelegt sind.

00:28:26.020 Und darüber sind wir gerne bereit zu sprechen.

00:28:29.020 Aber das Handeln wird verändert werden.

00:28:32.160 So, Michael, any final thoughts on that?

00:28:33.800 I think it really shows just how much the Vatican's authority has slipped away.

00:28:40.280 The fact that these German bishops are so carefree and easy to just blatantly disregard the Vatican's authority,

00:28:46.700 which is clearly stated in 2021 that the church cannot bless same-sex blessings.

00:28:52.080 It's interesting, too.

00:28:54.280 It also shows that because of the mention of Belgium, Belgium's already doing this.

00:28:59.400 It shows when Rome does not act to correct its allowances of these falsehoods, of these heresies, they build upon one another.

00:29:11.980 And so now Germany's basically just pointing to Belgium and saying, hey, they've been doing it.

00:29:15.660 Of course we're going to do it.

00:29:17.300 Unreal.

00:29:17.640 One last thing that I wanted to discuss with you, Michael, and that was a fascinating thing.

00:29:23.700 Pope Francis, in an interview, I want to read this here.

00:29:28.160 It was in one of those same interviews that was given that we've already mentioned.

00:29:33.180 He talked about gender ideology.

00:29:36.000 And he said, and I quote, he's one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations.

00:29:41.280 So, this is very interesting because this is Pope Francis.

00:29:48.100 He's actually condemned the gender ideology probably over a dozen times.

00:29:56.200 Now, that sounds really strange because is that the same Pope Francis who had a transgender couple over at the Vatican?

00:30:06.580 So, two women came over, one of whom had mutilated herself to look like a man and took hormones. 1.00

00:30:12.880 So, she had facial hair and she had lopped off her breasts. 1.00

00:30:17.760 Yep, that's the same one.

00:30:19.480 He called them married and happy.

00:30:23.200 That's Pope Francis with the transgender couple.

00:30:25.280 Is this the same Pope Francis who praised, congratulated, and loves the nun they call the nun of the trans, who, yes, she works with the poor wonderfully, but she opened up a home for poor transgender people.

00:30:41.820 And she lets the couples, remember, these are two males or two females, one of whom presents or whatever as a different sex, but lets them live together as a couple.

00:30:54.480 Is this the same Pope Francis who has welcomed transgender activists as well?

00:31:02.460 Well, yes, it is.

00:31:04.060 So, how do we square Pope Francis saying that, you know, gender ideology is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations, and then the Pope Francis who seems to bless the behavior of transgender individuals? 0.96

00:31:23.640 It used to be that the church would not only hold that the kind of sinful ideologies are bad, it would also say, we love the sinner and hate the sin, and therefore encourage all of those who are engaged in behaviors that are harmful for themselves to come out of them.

00:31:45.620 But we see something very different here.

00:31:47.660 It's quite interesting to note the discrepancy there between his words and his actions.

00:31:54.240 You mentioned the meeting and the welcome that he gives to transgender individuals.

00:32:01.160 We saw quite a few times over last spring and summer, at the end of his general audience, he received transgender groups.

00:32:09.520 If you try to imagine someone like Pope St. Pius X receiving transgender individuals as an audience, welcoming them, shaking their hands, and enjoying their company, having his photo taken with you, that's very much, that just wouldn't happen with Pope St. Pius X. 0.58

00:32:28.960 But as you say, Pope Francis has this discrepancy between sometimes saying something that sounds vaguely Catholic, and then managing to act in a way that's very not Catholic.

00:32:44.900 I think also in that same interview, he differentiates between gender ideology and sexual orientation.

00:32:51.880 It does appear that he, in making that distinction, he lends almost some implicit support to the arguments regarding sexual orientation.

00:33:04.480 So it seems that he's almost supporting the arguments for sexual behavior or for lesbian behavior, but he's just, at least verbally, pulling back a little bit from supporting the transgender movement, which is the poke of confusion.

00:33:21.880 Indeed so, the Pope of confusion.

00:33:24.160 We need to pray that he converts and that he does what the Pope is supposed to do.

00:33:33.340 Our Lord charged, you know, St. Peter, the first Pope, confirm your brethren in the faith.

00:33:40.400 And that's what we need from the Pope.

00:33:43.180 Any final thoughts, Michael?

00:33:44.780 I think it's an easy final thought, but I think just to echo that the prayers necessary for the Church,

00:33:50.700 particularly now in the wake of the German bishops, who are openly rejecting not only Pope Francis, because he is the Pope of confusion,

00:33:59.340 but they're rejecting the Catholic faith of ages, which is going to have a devastating impact on the Church.

00:34:06.200 And so I think we should pray especially for divine inspiration for the Pope and for the relevant cardinals to take a stand

00:34:14.880 and to actually to start protecting the Catholic faith.

00:34:19.440 Amen to that.

00:34:20.540 Thank you so much, Michael, for joining us.

00:34:22.360 Thank you very much, John Henry.

00:34:23.520 God bless you and God bless all of you.

00:34:26.500 And we'll see you next time.

00:34:27.380 Hi, everyone.

00:34:39.080 This is John Henry Weston.

00:34:40.220 We hope you enjoyed this program.

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The John-Henry Westen Show - March 16, 2023

NOW in Rome： Married Priesthood Next On Pope Francis' Agenda？

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