The John-Henry Westen Show - REPORT： German 'Synodal Way' Is Quickly Corrupting the Catholic Church

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00:01:33.540 Hey LifeSite friends, I want to bring you, in fact, I want to introduce you to somebody.

00:01:38.280 You know we have great coverage of what's happening in Germany. Of course, we have Micah Hickson,

00:01:43.660 our star reporter who covers all things Vatican and in Germany for us. But we actually have a reporter

00:01:49.200 who lives in Vienna, who is obviously German, and is able to report from us from all the things that

00:01:55.600 are happening in Germany. And you know, Germany is ground zero right now for the rebellion in the

00:02:00.360 church. So let me introduce you to LifeSite reporter Andreas Weiltze. Andreas, welcome to the program.

00:02:06.720 Thank you, General Henry. Thank you for interviewing me.

00:02:08.940 And it is so great because we're able to talk from ground zero about what's going on in the church.

00:02:14.080 And it is, as you know, very disturbing. For the last two years, we have seen the progress of the

00:02:22.160 so-called synodal pathway that they're doing here. And it's been a great revolution. But it's not so

00:02:28.220 much of a revolution. It's just brought out what's already been going on underneath the surface and

00:02:33.060 it's come out. So first of all, Andreas, would you mind telling us, just introduce us to yourself,

00:02:38.800 introduce all of our viewers to yourself, because we probably don't know you that well,

00:02:41.920 and then we'll get into the issues. And before we do, let's begin, as we always do,

00:02:45.700 with the Son of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

00:02:51.180 Amen. Andreas, tell us about yourself.

00:02:54.200 Well, you know, I was born and raised in Austria. I grew up there. I'm, you know, from Vienna. And

00:03:00.700 I was actually, I didn't grow up Catholic in that sense. I mean, I was baptized as a child, but

00:03:06.040 we never went to church really. And so that was never a thing for me until I went to a Catholic

00:03:12.680 retreat with my then girlfriend. Now she's my wife. And well, I converted there, basically. I found

00:03:21.100 that, you know, the Catholic faith is true and the supernatural is true. And from there, my faith

00:03:26.680 journey began. That was in about 2016. And, uh, my faith deepened since then. And, um, yeah,

00:03:33.080 I started, um, you know, to read up on more of my faith on LifeSite, for instance, it was one of my,

00:03:39.420 one of my sources. And, uh, you know, and then the whole COVID thing happened and things got crazy.

00:03:45.380 And I got, you know, pressure at my job, um, about the COVID vaccines and so on. The people who follow

00:03:52.220 maybe the reporting in Austria know that in Austria, we had a really strict, you know, draconian COVID

00:03:57.940 regime really. And, um, that was kind of when I kind of saw, or God really led me to, on a bit of a

00:04:05.820 different path from my sort of business career into a different path. And I, uh, I had met Alexander

00:04:11.440 Tuguel, who founded the St. Boniface Institute and who famously threw the Pachamama statues into the

00:04:17.680 Tiber River in 2019. And, uh, I, uh, started working with him for some time and I worked, worked with

00:04:24.600 him for the St. Boniface Institute. And, uh, then he, you know, at some point we just talked about, we

00:04:31.080 started talking about LifeSite, who I was following. And he, he mentioned at some point that LifeSite

00:04:35.360 may be looking for, for journalists. And, uh, I wasn't a journalist per se at the time, but I was

00:04:40.360 researching and writing. So I was doing journalistic work in a sense. And, um, yeah, then at some point it

00:04:46.360 just came up, you know, that, you know, maybe I should, should apply to, for LifeSite. And then

00:04:50.740 I did. And, uh, yeah, now I'm here and, uh, I'm very happy and I, yeah, I work for LifeSite and I

00:04:57.180 cover, you know, I write articles about all kinds of things, but especially about things going on here

00:05:02.980 in Germany and Austria and Europe in general, but especially the German speaking world. Well, because 0.90

00:05:08.140 like, like you said, I speak German and that's my mother tongue. So, um, and there's a lot of things to

00:05:14.240 report on lately, because as you mentioned, there's just another way going on, which is, well, really a, a,

00:05:21.860 a pivotal moment in church history and in German church history, which is, well, maybe even a new

00:05:28.240 schism as, as it's looking right now. Hopefully not, but it is not looking good. And, uh, also

00:05:34.240 politically Germany is, there's a lot of things going on here that are concerning and worth reporting

00:05:39.360 about for LifeSite. So yeah, that's beautiful. What, what I really love is that all of our crew

00:05:46.280 at LifeSite are very, very faithful and you're able to bring therefore your faith into the four

00:05:54.320 while reporting. And so the people out there know that they can trust you, that you're faithful,

00:05:59.220 that you love our Lord. You love the faith. You love the Holy sacrifice of the mass. And so we're

00:06:04.340 doing this out of love. Now you worked with Alexander Chuguel, who is a hero of mine. And I

00:06:10.100 think many out there know him very, very well as the Pachamama destroyer or whatever, uh, they know

00:06:14.840 him by, but he famously did this work, work of the Lord, praised by various cardinals as a work of the

00:06:22.160 Lord that will go down in history. Um, you were very privileged to work with him and you had that

00:06:28.340 fighting spirit working with him, I'm sure. And you're bringing that to your work now. So let's,

00:06:32.460 let's talk about, uh, the faith in Germany. Uh, I know Germans have been persecuted in their faith,

00:06:39.660 even historically, and they suffered both world wars. Um, but even before that, there was

00:06:46.580 Lutheranism that came to Germany and Catholics were already persecuted. But now we're in this time

00:06:53.060 where the faithful are almost abandoned by almost all the shepherds. There are, of course, the handful of

00:06:59.780 exceptions in, in, in Austria and Germany together, by the way, what's your picture of the church in

00:07:05.460 Germany right now and of the fight to maintain the faith from the faithful? Well, it's sort of, uh,

00:07:11.940 a few bishops and faithful Catholics against everyone else. So like you mentioned, unfortunately,

00:07:19.180 the majority of the German bishops is, does not really hold to the traditional Catholic teaching.

00:07:25.500 And we know this not just, I'm not just saying this, you know, because I already made a statement

00:07:30.000 here and there, but because they actually voted on it. They let just last September, they had their,

00:07:34.780 uh, fourth synodal assembly and they actually voted on texts that call for changing church teaching on

00:07:40.300 unchangeable things like homosexuality and, um, marriage and, um, the female, uh, women ordinations and so 0.95

00:07:49.240 on. So things that the church has already definitively taught and the matters are closed, like with women

00:07:54.440 ordinations, for instance, John Paul II wrote, that is a closed matter. There's, there's nothing you can

00:07:59.260 do. It is, it is settled by the church and these other matters are settled as well. And, um, yet

00:08:04.340 they're pushing forward and, and voting for these things. So it's, it's, they're really much more

00:08:11.380 open. I mean, like you said, you mentioned it before, these things were going on under the surface

00:08:15.240 for decades. Now there's really sort of, um, very liberal left wing turn that, uh, many bishops have

00:08:24.520 taken and, uh, really, you know, borderline heretical, I mean, material heretics, at least with, with,

00:08:30.420 with things they're saying, but now the Germans are really open. They're really saying, no, we want to,

00:08:34.020 we want to change the church and we want to be Catholic differently. Like, uh, the head of the German 0.99

00:08:39.520 conference said, basically they want to have a new church. That's what they're saying. So they want to

00:08:43.460 have a new reformation. And that's why I said before, sort of a new schism at, I think we're

00:08:48.700 seeing unfolding here, unless something miraculous happens. So it's, it's a really, um, you know,

00:08:55.580 troublesome situation. Um, but there are, on the other hand, there are faithful bishops, um, here.

00:09:02.480 We have one of them here, Bishop, uh, Vorderheutzer of Regensburg. He is one of the most faithful,

00:09:06.660 uh, in Germany. And he courageously spoke out against us in another way as one of the only ones

00:09:12.340 who actually not only voted against, uh, you know, heterodox documents, but also spoke out and he

00:09:17.680 received a lot of hate for it. And, um, there's many, there's now many lay initiatives. Um, one is

00:09:24.800 called new beginning, but there's, uh, then one is called Mary 1.0. There are many lay initiatives

00:09:30.300 of lay Catholics and, and some of them are supported by priests who are coming up that are saying, no,

00:09:36.060 this is, we want to be faithful to the church. And, and, and they are opposing the bishops,

00:09:40.580 well, not opposing the bishops per se, but opposing the things that the bishops are teaching that are

00:09:45.320 not, um, in line with Catholic teaching. And, um, so that is happening at the same time. So

00:09:51.220 we're seeing small awakenings, um, I think, but I mean, I guess the, if you want to call it

00:09:56.980 mainstream German church is, is, is in a dire situation. Um, but, um, again, we're seeing people

00:10:03.340 come up and especially lay initiatives and also some bishops were fighting back both in Austria and

00:10:08.000 Germany, but Germany especially is, you know, sort of the focal point because of the synodal

00:10:12.740 way and because of what's going on. And, um, yeah, also because of the global, uh, synod that's

00:10:18.280 going on right now in the Vatican, for instance, a synod, which many fear will sort of be a global

00:10:24.080 version of the synodal way, which is, um, you know, it would be very, very bad for the church

00:10:30.620 and for the faithful, even though we know church teaching can change, but it would at least

00:10:33.880 cause massive confusion and already is. So yeah, so that's, I would say what the picture

00:10:39.020 is. I mean, there, there are other positive examples as well. One just, just came to my

00:10:43.420 mind is there is a, a priest director of the St. Philip Neri Institute. He founded the Institute

00:10:49.920 in Berlin. So Berlin is one of the most liberal cities in, in, in Western Europe, you could say.

00:10:54.320 And he founded a traditional Catholic, um, institute there and he defied the government's orders

00:11:01.620 during the COVID lockdowns. And he became famous for it. Like the national mainstream media was

00:11:06.220 reporting about him. He became sort of a, a hero for the, for the, uh, anti-lockdown and anti-

00:11:12.140 draconian measure movement. And, and he, you know, had the traditional Latin mass and offered it.

00:11:16.320 He found ways around it and, and, and wouldn't, you know, uh, give in to the government. So he's a

00:11:22.420 great example, I think in the tradition of, of someone like, uh, uh, blessed Cardinal Galen, who he was,

00:11:30.140 uh, who courageously spoke out against the Nazis in, in their time of, of their dictatorship there,

00:11:36.220 who the Nazis, some claim that, you know, they were Christian, but of course they were very 0.99

00:11:42.300 anti-Christian in their rhetoric and they hated Christianity or true Christianity and the Catholic

00:11:46.540 church. And they persecuted the true faithful Catholics like Cardinal Galen, but he spoke out

00:11:51.720 courageously. And, uh, I think, you know, someone like, um, like I just mentioned this, this,

00:11:58.240 this rector in, in, in Berlin stands in a tradition of him. So there are faithful Catholic

00:12:05.200 prelates and, um, lay people. And I think I want people to know that because if you hear,

00:12:10.320 only read the news, even if you read LifeSite, you only think, wow, Germany is basically lost

00:12:14.520 and it may seem that way, but there are really faithful Catholics here. And yeah.

00:12:18.880 Beautiful. Andreas, Jim and I had an opportunity to sit down with Bishop Vorderholzer.

00:12:25.400 And, uh, let's take a look at that now.

00:12:30.360 We are so pleased to be here with the bishop in Regensburg here, the bishop who has stood

00:12:39.360 faithful, uh, especially in this very difficult time for Germany, for the whole wide world's

00:12:44.700 church, looking at Germany, promoting this synodal way. One of the outspoken bishops in Germany

00:12:51.260 who has been sticking strong to the faith, sticking strong to the truth, despite the,

00:12:57.300 the, his brother bishops, you know, seeming to go in a majority in one direction has been

00:13:02.900 Bishop Vorderholzer. On behalf of LifeSite News and all of our viewers and readers around the world,

00:13:08.640 uh, we wanted to say thank you so very much for standing true to the faith.

00:13:13.140 I thank you for your work and God bless your work in the media world. I am very, uh, proud

00:13:25.460 that, uh, you visit me and I, uh, wish you all the best. Thank you so very much. God bless you.

00:13:32.740 Thank you. Und kannst du auch mit uns ein bisschen in Deutsch beten? So nur die, äh, Ave Maria.

00:13:41.000 Gegrüßet seist du, Maria, voll der Gnade, der Herr ist mit dir. Du bist gebenedeit unter den Frauen und

00:13:46.260 gebenedeit ist die Frucht deines Leibes, Jesus. Heilige Maria, Mutter Gottes, bitte für uns sind wir jetzt

00:13:52.480 und in der Stunde unseres Todes. Amen. Ehre sei dem Vater und dem Sohn und dem Heiligen Geist.

00:13:59.500 Ja, ja, die Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Und ich habe dir für

00:14:18.480 dir auch eine Gebete, Gebete. Mein Vater hat mir gelernt und eine Ave Maria nach Sankt Josef.

00:14:29.500 Und es ist in Deutsch.

00:14:31.500 Ave Josef, sei gepriesen, er und Lob sei dir erwiesen. Pflegevater unseres Herrn, unser Schützer,

00:14:39.380 unser Rater, Sechner, unser liebe Vater, den wir grüßen, froh und gern. Lär uns Jesu in dir lieben und

00:14:46.940 die Demut treulich üben. Lär uns beten, so wie du. Steh in Lebens und zur Seite. Gib den Tod uns dein

00:14:54.060 geleite. Für uns ein zur ewigen Ruhe. Heiliger Josef, bitte für uns. Amen. Thank you again. God bless you.

00:15:03.040 So, one of the things that I find truly amazing is that, yes, there's this reputation of, you know,

00:15:12.120 what's going on in Germany. And we had a very funny thing happen. Jim and I were sitting at a restaurant

00:15:17.640 in our hotel. And a young man came up to us. And he talked about, because, well, he was unmarried and

00:15:24.880 not practicing the faith. But we talked to him about, well, the faith and why not get married and so on.

00:15:30.440 And it was funny because he said something to us that was the talking point of the left and not true

00:15:37.180 in reality. What he said was, well, yes, I think, you know, the church is changing and maybe that's

00:15:45.460 why people are coming back to the faith. And we had to inform him, well, no, actually, they tried the

00:15:52.120 changing in the 60s. And that was the greatest exodus from the church ever in its history, including in

00:15:56.580 Germany, but all over the world. But there has been a movement, particularly of young people back to the

00:16:02.380 church. And it comes thanks to tradition. And so I wanted to ask you about that in Germany. Is there

00:16:08.740 also the same thing? Is there, like we see in America, wherever the Latin Mass is and more

00:16:15.900 traditional liturgy is, there's the young people. And it's a very great frustration for, I know, for Pope

00:16:21.440 Francis and many on the left in the church who don't want that to happen at all and want to restrict it

00:16:26.240 and even stop it if possible. But do you see that same thing happening in Germany?

00:16:31.220 Yes, definitely. I mean, it's definitely happening in Germany and Austria, where I am. So

00:16:35.340 I would say it's not like, it's not as big maybe as in the United States and France. These are two

00:16:42.660 probably in Western Europe or Western world, the countries with the strongest Latin Mass movement

00:16:49.440 and traditional movement. But it's basically the same. So the median age is much lower at the

00:16:54.700 traditional Latin Masses. And they are growing both in Austria and Germany and in the German-speaking

00:17:02.080 world. And you can also see, we have here in, or not here directly, but also in Bavaria,

00:17:09.360 in Wiegradsbad, there's the original seminary of the FSSP of the, and when they were founded

00:17:17.620 originally in 1988. And it is booming, right? They had to, you know, build extra parts of the

00:17:24.800 building and build, you know, make it bigger all the time because there's so many seminarians

00:17:29.900 that are coming in there. So you see that the tradition is growing, even though with the

00:17:35.460 restrictions that Pope Francis issued, it did hit some parts. I can say it from Vienna,

00:17:42.260 there were many diocesan, especially Latin Masses who were shut down, unfortunately. So

00:17:47.160 we're definitely feeling the restrictions. But at the same time, you know, it is still growing

00:17:53.300 and I think you can't stop it everywhere. And it's going really well. And, you know, most

00:17:59.720 young Catholics that I know, friends of mine, or relatively young, between like 20 and 30

00:18:06.380 or 35, they go to the Latin Mass or at least sympathetic towards the Latin Mass. And, you

00:18:13.760 know, I think it's just the same everywhere. If you want the Catholic faith, you want like

00:18:19.200 the most real version of it, like the traditional version, because sort of no one really wants

00:18:25.360 a washed down version of the faith today. Because, yeah, it's like, if you want rock concerts

00:18:32.460 and so on, you can go somewhere else. But if you want like real traditional faith with

00:18:36.380 even, you know, preaching and of fire and brimstone and of salvation, really, of the true gospel

00:18:42.520 and of sort of this contrast between God's kingdom and the kingdom of the earth, which is,

00:18:50.060 if you are a faithful Catholic today, you sort of want that or you're not going to be a

00:18:55.020 faithful Catholic, I think. So there's going to be, in a way, probably a good divide between 1.00

00:18:59.660 young people who actually want to practice the faith and want to stay faithful to the

00:19:04.000 church, who will be more traditional, or will fall away entirely. I don't think that

00:19:09.200 many Catholics are going to, young Catholics, there's no societal pressure now to be Catholic

00:19:13.420 anymore, like maybe there was still 60 years ago or something. So, yeah, I think it's definitely

00:19:17.900 growing. And I think there are great examples. And, you know, the future belongs to the

00:19:22.100 young, you know, more traditionally minded Catholics, I think. And yeah, we're going to

00:19:28.060 see some shrinking, but I mean, there are even, you can see there are even calculations that say

00:19:33.220 by 2040 or 2050, there will be more, quote unquote, traditional priests to celebrate traditional

00:19:38.780 Latin mass than those order priests in France, for instance, which is a very sad reality because

00:19:44.400 why that is, is not only because the traditional priests are growing, the numbers are growing,

00:19:49.920 but because the other numbers are collapsing, which is very sad. I'm not happy about this

00:19:54.420 at all. So I'm not saying this is a good thing, but in a way, I think there's no way forward

00:20:00.380 without a shrinking and becoming more faithful, like becoming a more faithful core of a Catholic

00:20:06.400 church. I think because under the surface, the damage is, I'm afraid, already done. So

00:20:11.800 of course we're always praying for conversion, but yeah, I think that the future belongs to a 0.82

00:20:16.560 more traditionally minded and faithful Catholic youth. You said almost verbatim, the very words

00:20:24.100 that the man, priest, then bishop and pope from this town said, I'm talking, of course, of Pope

00:20:33.940 Benedict XVI, who this was his town in Regensburg, where his brother led the Dohn choir here.

00:20:40.800 Um, and he predicted exactly that, that there would be a smaller church, but it would be a much purer

00:20:47.300 church. And we are coming to that. One last thing I wanted to talk to you about was just

00:20:52.260 because the times are so dire, especially in terms of the church, and we've had restrictions that we

00:20:59.900 watched the restrictions on the masses just in total over the last couple of years that had not so

00:21:05.100 much to do with the church, other than that they acquiesced to the requests, underground churches.

00:21:11.720 Because while we see that in China and in places where it's restricted, like in Saudi Arabia and

00:21:18.160 things like this, where, where really Catholics are persecuted, we're having a kind of persecution

00:21:23.060 here, not only from government lockdowns, but even from the official church. Have you seen evidence,

00:21:29.960 and maybe you can't talk about it, but have you seen evidence of an underground church already

00:21:33.280 awakening here in Germany and in Austria and things like that? Um, yes, certainly a little

00:21:38.860 bit. I mean, we, we had it definitely during the lockdowns. I mean, I can say that now because

00:21:43.480 you can't persecute us. I hope not anymore, but I mean, we had secret masses during the lockdowns,

00:21:49.620 like probably most places in the world had, um, definitely. And most of these secret masses

00:21:53.960 were traditional masses because, you know, on average, you know, the traditional priests,

00:21:59.160 they're going to be the ones that understand how important the mass and how important the

00:22:02.800 Eucharist is. And you can shut it down. Even if you, even if you believe the mainstream narrative

00:22:08.120 about COVID, even if you think that it's so dangerous, it's still the, it's still, you know,

00:22:13.420 the body of Christ, the celebration of the body of Christ. I mean, they had masses and, and, you know,

00:22:17.740 administered the Holy Eucharist when they had the plague in Europe, which is a million times worse

00:22:22.120 than COVID. Like even then they administered the sacraments because they still,

00:22:25.360 they believed in its power and realness. And, and so, yeah, so we definitely saw it during COVID

00:22:31.900 and, um, yeah, now, I mean, it's, it's hard to tell. I mean, the FSSP, for instance, where I go to

00:22:40.060 most of the times is still allowed officially by Francis to have the Latin mass. And, um, so,

00:22:47.600 but I know, you know, a few priests that of course I'm not going to name who celebrate the Latin mass

00:22:53.740 privately, even though they would officially be forbidden to do it. And, you know, but as far

00:22:59.440 as I understand, if someone comes to a private mass, it's like, well, someone's there, like

00:23:03.840 even a Bishop can't forbid that, but, um, I don't know. So I don't want to get into the canonical

00:23:10.900 details, but, um, yeah, it's happening a little bit. Definitely. I mean, uh, thank God that I think

00:23:18.060 prayers answered, uh, COVID lockdowns for now are over, but, um, so I think the, the worst time of

00:23:25.740 the underground church in the last 50 years, at least, um, is for now over, but we may see it

00:23:31.340 returning. I think it was a good test run for, for us faithful Catholics to see, okay, when persecution

00:23:36.700 comes again of the mass, we already know sort of what to do and, and, and, and we're not stunned by,

00:23:42.960 by that. And so I think it was a good sort of test run. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that is one of the

00:23:48.640 greatest gifts that the whole COVID lockdown gave us that we have had a test run. You've got to know

00:23:54.960 who your most faithful priests are, who your friends are, whom you can trust so that when we have to go

00:24:00.160 into an underground church for perhaps other reasons, maybe a similar reason, we'll have that

00:24:05.800 experience. You know, right here, right now, probably one of the coldest days in Germany, this

00:24:13.060 weather is unbelievable. We had snow. When I flew into Germany this time, it looked very much like

00:24:17.700 Canada at home. I was like, wow, everything's white. That's not normal here, but it is a kind of 0.95

00:24:23.800 pathetic fallacy of what's going on here in the church in Germany. Things are very, very cold, but what

00:24:30.260 is true is that the love of Christ still burns the hearts of many faithful German Catholics.

00:24:37.100 Andreas, thank you for being with us in this interview. And I was so glad to introduce you,

00:24:41.320 Andreas, to all of our LifeSite readers, fans, and supporters. Yeah. Thank you very much. And thank

00:24:46.340 you to all our supporters and readers. And yeah, it's, it's a great honor to work for LifeSite.

00:24:52.000 Thank you, all of you. God bless you from Regensburg, Germany. And, uh,

00:24:56.640 Grüß Gott, as they say here.

00:25:12.380 This is John Henry Weston for LifeSite News, bringing you breaking news out of Rome. Pope

00:25:16.940 Francis has just given an interview with the Associated Press in which he says that bishops

00:25:21.620 who encourage anti-sodomy laws need conversion. In fact, he also adds that the church must even

00:25:27.740 fight such anti-sodomy laws. This came in a new interview conducted with Associated Press.

00:25:33.960 Pope Francis criticized bishops who maintained laws against sodomy in countries of Africa and

00:25:39.720 elsewhere. He said, and I quote, these bishops have to have a process of conversion. He called for

00:25:47.480 tenderness, please God, as God has for each one of us, he said. Going further, the 86-year-old former

00:25:54.800 Archbishop of Buenos Aires called any laws which criminalize sodomy unjust, adding that the Catholic 0.99

00:26:01.940 Church must be involved in ending such laws. It must do this. It must do this, he stated. And it's clear

00:26:09.920 from his remarks that Pope Francis was referring to acts of sodomy rather than the inclination towards

00:26:16.480 such acts. The church has always taught that while homosexual sexual acts are gravely sinful, 0.84

00:26:23.920 the inclination or same-sex attraction is not sinful. It is an objectively disordered inclination, 1.00

00:26:30.800 of course, but not sinful unless acted upon. Yet Pope Francis seems confused about this reality

00:26:37.280 as he said to the Associated Press, and I quote, being homosexual is not a crime. Being homosexual is not

00:26:44.720 a crime. So he said, it's not a crime. Yes, but it is a sin. Fine, but let's first distinguish between a sin

00:26:54.160 and a crime, he said, end quote.

00:27:08.400 So, he is obviously himself confusing this situation, and he either doesn't understand it or is trying to be

00:27:16.680 smart with the media or whatever. I don't know. But nonetheless, being homosexual in the sense that you 0.89

00:27:22.120 experience same-sex attraction is not a sin, despite what Pope Francis said. Acting on that inclination by

00:27:31.700 engaging in homosexual sexual relations is a sin. And in some countries, it is indeed a crime. So, expanding 0.98

00:27:39.960 on his comments on LGBT-identifying individuals, Francis declared that we are all children of God,

00:27:47.900 and God loves us as we are, and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity. So,

00:27:58.040 let's go through that again. He said, we are all children of God, God loves us as we are,

00:28:04.440 and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity. That's a little bit confusing, but

00:28:09.960 there's, of course, very true what he says about God does love us all, with all of our various

00:28:16.320 inclinations to sin, sexual and otherwise. God loves the young man who's inclined to sex outside of

00:28:22.800 marriage with his girlfriend or whatever. But when he acts on that inclination, it's a sin condemned by

00:28:29.160 God, and harming the young man and his girlfriend, harming them both physically, psychologically, but 0.51

00:28:34.880 worst of all, spiritually killing them. Similarly, God loves the man tempted to look at pornography. 0.98

00:28:42.140 There's no sin in the temptation, but there is sin in doing it, and God's anger also when he acts upon

00:28:50.380 that sin. In looking at porn, and the self-abuse that usually accompanies that, there's sin. In committing

00:28:57.620 that sin, this man not only harms himself physically and psychologically, but he grievously harms his

00:29:05.160 relationship with God, killing his relationship with God, which can only be repaired by sacramental

00:29:11.620 confession. So, God loves the man also who is abnormally inclined to sexual relations with animals. Even 0.97

00:29:19.260 though it's a disordered inclination, there's no sin in having that temptation. However, when acted upon, it's a

00:29:26.840 grievous sin. In addition to the harm that it causes the animal, it harms the man physically, psychologically,

00:29:34.520 spiritually. In some countries, it is also a crime which can carry criminal penalties. So, laws against

00:29:43.280 sexual perversion in various nations are there for the protection of the population. Some states outlaw

00:29:49.980 adultery, because they see the grave harm caused to society by broken families, and the massive cost to

00:29:56.760 the state by the poverty, abuse, and neglect which flow in the wake of broken families. And it is similar

00:30:04.060 in the case of sex before marriage, where some states recognize that without support, a woman can be left 0.98

00:30:09.960 by a man with a child outside of wedlock, with venereal disease, and worse. So, most of these laws are also,

00:30:17.980 or they encompass also rape and pedophilia. Even in America and some states, there remain laws which

00:30:24.380 forbid sexual relations between adults and minors. It is these laws which some bishops support in certain

00:30:31.820 African countries. They do threaten criminal sanctions for harmful sexual acts, not for inclinations or 1.00

00:30:39.020 temptations. Such laws do forbid the type of teaching of children in classrooms which encourages sodomy,

00:30:47.820 the LGBT ideology, and more. In a statement provided to LifeSite, a theologian commented that,

00:30:55.740 and I quote, while not all sins should be made into crimes, Christian nations have generally treated

00:31:02.300 homosexual activity as something harmful to society which therefore needed to be declared illegal.

00:31:09.900 He continued,

00:31:11.500 Recent experience shows the wisdom of this, since the repeal of laws against such activity has led

00:31:18.140 everywhere to a general confusion and decline of sexual morality, and even to the scarcely credible

00:31:25.740 situation of people being uncertain about the nature of men and women. So, while Pope Francis stated that

00:31:34.380 the bishops who support anti-sonomy laws need conversion, in truth it is Pope Francis who needs a

00:31:40.700 conversion. And on this day, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, will you please join me in praying for

00:31:47.580 the conversion of Pope Francis? It certainly seems every day that Pope Francis is much more a persecutor

00:31:54.780 of Catholics than was Saul prior to his being knocked off his horse. For LifeSite News, this is John Henry

00:32:01.500 Weston, and may God bless you. Hi everyone, this is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this program.

00:32:09.020 To see more like it, be sure to hit the subscribe button below to get all the latest content from LifeSite

00:32:14.220 News. Check the links in the description to read more and connect with us on social media,

00:32:18.380 so that you can stay up to date with all the latest life, family, faith, and freedom news.

00:32:23.020 Thanks for watching, and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - January 26, 2023

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