Pope Ends Flirtation with Homosexuality

By Si Squires-Kasten

Oct. 23, 2014

After a draft Vatican document calling for greater openness towards homosexuals was voted down by the Catholic synod on Saturday, several cardinals expressed relief that Pope Francis’s affirmation of gay Catholics was “just a phase.”

Cardinal Roger Etchegaray of France, appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1979, stated that Francis’s earlier consideration of LGBT issues was something every pontiff experiences during his first years in the Papacy: “The novelty of the office can be overwhelming, and that tends to produce a culture of ideological exploration and experimentation. However,” continued Etchegaray, “after those freewheeling urges die down, most Popes rediscover the pontiff they truly were all along.”

Other cardinals posit that the Pope’s liberalism was an attempt to “get back” at his predecessor, Benedict XVI. “It’s understandable that Francis would wish to distinguish himself by reconsidering doctrinal opposition to gays and lesbians – classic youthful rebellion,” said Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals.

Sodano recalled a “particularly awkward” Easter when the pontiff brought the LGBT Catholic group Equally Blessed to speak at the Vatican. “Yikes, was that dinner uncomfortable,” Sodano told the Dealer. “Hopefully in a couple years, when those memories are safely in the past, I’ll be able to sit down with the Pope and have a good laugh about it.”