Bulletins

July 12, 2015

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Were you under the impression that the Vatican has nothing to say about same-sex marriage now being a constitutional right in the United States? Remember that after the citizens of Ireland voted in May to legalize the same, the Vatican described it as a "defeat for humanity".

On October 25 of last year he spoke to a gathering of the Schönstatt Movement. Roughly 7,500 members of the international Marian and apostolic organization, both lay and clerics from dozens of nations around the world, were present in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall for the audience in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the movement's founding in Germany. The Holy Father offered some sharp remarks about the state of marriage in general:

"The family is being hit, the family is being struck and the family is being bastardized," the Pope told those in attendance. He warned against the common view in society that "you can call everything family, right?"

"What is being proposed is not marriage, it's an association. But it's not marriage! It's necessary to say these things very clearly and we have to say it!"

He lamented that there are so many "new forms" of unions which are "totally destructive and limiting the greatness of the love of marriage."

Noting that there are many who cohabitate, or are separated or divorced, he explained that the key to helping is pastoral care that assists and patiently accompanies the couple.

Pope Francis explained that contemporary society has "devalued" the sacrament by turning it into a social rite, removing the most essential element, which is union with God.

"So many families are divided, so many marriages broken, (there is) such relativism in the concept of the Sacrament of Marriage," he said, noting that from a sociological and Christian point of view "there is a crisis in the family because it's beat up from all sides and left very wounded!"

God bless Our Holy Father.
God bless you.

Fr. Christopher J. Pollard

p.s. Curiously, an English transcript of the discourse is not available. The Vatican website has a clumsy link to the video of the two and a half hour event. You, however, can go directly to YouTube and watch it: bit.ly/PapaFrancesco_Schoenstatt_2014-10-25

p.p.s. The above translation and description of the Holy Father's remarks come from Catholic News Agency, a news outlet well worth your attention.