“Lumen fidei” or “The Light of Faith” is the title of Francis’ 82-page encyclical — a major statement on Catholic doctrine — which was originally drafted by Benedict XVI but given to Francis to complete. Benedict, as Pope, many times attacked same-sex marriage. Some thought Francis would focus more on less controversial issues and take the church back to its traditional home of caring for the poor, the sick, and the needy. Apparently, Francis has a different view than those who saw his elevation as a new time of unity for the Church.
“Absorbed and deepened in the family, faith becomes a light capable of illumining all our relationships in society,” Pope Francis I writes. “As an experience of the mercy of God the Father, it sets us on the path of brotherhood. Modernity sought to build a universal brotherhood based on equality, yet we gradually came to realize that this brotherhood, lacking a reference to a common Father as its ultimate foundation, cannot endure. We need to return to the true basis of brotherhood. The history of faith has been from the beginning a history of brotherhood, albeit not without conflict.” [Bolding ours]
In “Popes have no faith in gay marriage,” Australian news site News.com.au reports the encyclical “restates the Catholic Church’s position on marriage saying it should be a ‘stable union of man and woman.’”
The full excerpt:
The first setting in which faith enlightens the human city is the family. I think first and foremost of the stable union of man and woman in marriage. This union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgment and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation, whereby spouses can become one flesh (cf. Gen 2:24) and are enabled to give birth to a new life, a manifestation of the Creator’s good- ness, wisdom and loving plan. Grounded in this love, a man and a woman can promise each oth- er mutual love in a gesture which engages their entire lives and mirrors many features of faith. Promising love for ever is possible when we perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a plan which sustains us and enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love. Faith also helps us to grasp in all its depth and richness the begetting of children, as a sign of the love of the Creator who entrusts us with the mystery of a new person.
The good news?
“The 82-page text stresses that there is no contradiction between the Catholic faith and the modern world and calls for more dialogue with scientists, other religions and non-believers,” News.com.au notes.
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