Pope Francis’ Feel-Good Gospel Fans The Flame Of Radical Gender Ideology
Pope Francis' failure to unequivocally defend traditional sexual morality is undermining the faithful's fight against radical gender ideology.Pope Francis' failure to unequivocally defend traditional sexual morality is undermining the faithful's fight against radical gender ideology.
Vatican’s ‘Dignitas Infinita’ Confronts Some Of The World’s Stickiest Moral Issues
This long-anticipated declaration offers essential guidance on major moral issues and presents wisdom any serious Christian should appreciate.The pope SLAMS surrogacy and gender ideology
The Vatican has recently released a declaration titled “Dignitas Infinitia,” which condemns gender theory, surrogacy, and "gender-affirming" surgeries.
While the pope is not quite as biblical or conservative as popes in the past, Allie Beth Stuckey is “excited to see this.”
“The church recalls that human life in all its dimensions, both physical and spiritual, is a gift from God. Desiring a personal self-determination as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God,” the declaration reads.
“That is so true,” Stuckey says, adding, “Autonomy when in submission to God can be good, and authenticity when in submission to God can be good. But when the God is self and these things are held supreme, then autonomy justifies whatever you want to do in the name of controlling your life.”
The declaration goes on to explain that gender theory denies “the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings,” which is “sexual difference.”
“In the male-female couple, this difference achieves the most marvelous of reciprocities. It thus becomes the source of that miracle that never ceases to surprise us: the arrival of new human beings in the world,” Pope Francis writes.
Francis also called on the people to “protect our humanity” by “accepting it and respecting it as it was created,” which was followed by his denouncement of "sex-change" surgeries.
The pope then goes on to call surrogacy “deplorable,” as it “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child.”
“A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract,” he wrote, adding that he hopes the world will “prohibit this practice universally.”
Stuckey is again in complete agreement.
“You don’t have a right to conceive a child, you don’t have a right to a child. A child is not an object that you have a right to obtain. It is a gift,” she says.
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Pope Francis calls gender theory 'extremely dangerous' — declares surrogacy births 'deplorable'
Pope Francis called the practice of surrogacy births "deplorable," likening the act to turning a baby into an object of trafficking. At the same time he warned of the dangers of "gender theory" while encouraging international dialogue.
In an official address for 2024, the pope touched on the respect for human life and rights, "starting with the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb."
The life of the child cannot be "suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking," he continued, specifically pointing to surrogacy births.
"In this regard, I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child."
This was was based on the exploitation of a mother's material needs, the pope went on, adding that a child should never be the "basis of a commercial contract."
This language appeared to have been tweaked, as several outlets had previously reported the pope as using the word "despicable" in his description of surrogacy, which appeared to be have been replaced with "deplorable."
The pope went on to note that there have been attempts to introduce new human rights that are "neither fully consistent with those originally defined nor always acceptable."
"They have led to instances of ideological colonization, in which gender theory plays a central role; the latter is extremely dangerous since it cancels differences in its claim to make everyone equal," he explained.
The "ideological colonization" has sowed division rather than peace, the pope said.
Pope Francis encouraged dialogue as well and stated that it must be the "soul of the international community."
"Organizations established to foster security, peace, and cooperation are no longer capable of uniting all their members around one table."
These organizations are at risk for "ideological polarization" and "exploitation" by individual states, he added.
In November 2023, Pope Francis made headlines when the Vatican sent a letter to German religious officials who were suggesting radical propositions, such as allowing homosexual relationships and female priesthood.
In September 2023, the pope said that Europe is not facing a migrant crisis and challenged nations to open their ports to migrants.
"May we let ourselves be moved by the stories of so many of our unfortunate brothers and sisters who have the right both to emigrate and not to emigrate, and not become closed in indifference," Francis said. "In the face of the terrible scourge of the exploitation of human beings, the solution is not to reject but to ensure, according to the possibilities of each, an ample number of legal and regular entrances."
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Former pope contender becomes first-ever cardinal prosecuted in Vatican's criminal tribunal, court seeks $181 million
A former pope contender has become the first-ever cardinal to be prosecuted in Vatican's criminal court.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu was convicted of embezzling millions from the Vatican.
Judge Giuseppe Pignatone read the verdict on Saturday in a Vatican courtroom, which sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu to 5 ½ years in prison.
Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi boasted that the guilty verdict "showed we were correct."
Becciu's lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said he would appeal the sentence.
The BBC noted, "Becciu, 75, was the most senior Vatican official ever to face such charges and once seen as a papal contender himself."
In September 2020, Becciu, resigned from the Vatican's secretariat of state after being implicated in a financial scandal. Pope Francis accepted Becciu's resignation.
Becciu reportedly oversaw a multimillion-euro investment in a $380 million luxury property in London.
NBC News reported, "In the end, he was convicted of embezzlement stemming from the original investment of 200 million euros in a fund that bought into the London property, as well as for his 125,000 euro donation of Vatican money to a charity run by his brother in Sardinia. He was also convicted of using Vatican money to pay an intelligence analyst who in turn was convicted of using the money for herself."
Becciu allegedly paid 575,000 euros, about $627,000, to Cecilia Marogna for intelligence services. However, Marogna used that Vatican money to buy luxury goods and go on vacations, according to prosecutors.
The disgraced cardinal claimed that he thought the money was being used to pay a British security firm to negotiate the release of Gloria Narvaez – a Colombian nun taken hostage by Islamic militants in Mali in 2017.
Becciu said Pope Francis authorized up to 1 million euros to liberate the nun.
At the Vatican tribunal, Marogna was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for her role.
Prosecutors also sought damages of over 400 million euros from Marogna and Becciu to try to recover the estimated 200 million euros they claim the Holy See lost in the bad deals.
The Vatican court ordered the confiscation of 166 million euros, roughly $181 million, from the pair and the payment of civil damages to Vatican offices of 200 million euros, or about $218 million.
Becciu's former secretary, Monsignor Mauro Carlino, was completely acquitted.
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Pope Francis punishes conservative cardinal — the second action taken against outspoken critics in the US
Pope Francis took action against one of his biggest critics. This is the second time this month that Pope Francis has punished an American prelate.
Pope Francis punished Cardinal Raymond Burke, a 75-year-old canon lawyer from Wisconsin. Francis revoked Burke's salary and his subsidized Vatican apartment.
Burke, like other cardinals in Rome, lived in his apartment for free and received a monthly stipend of about $5,500.
During a meeting on Nov. 20, Pope Francis informed the heads of Vatican offices that he was taking action against Burke because he was a source of "disunity" in the church, according to an anonymous participant.
Another unnamed source said Francis punished Burke because he was using the privileges against the church.
Reports from earlier this week claimed that the pope said of Burke during the meeting, "Cardinal Burke is my enemy, so I take away his apartment and his salary."
However, Francis has denied making the remarks.
Catholic website Where Peter Is spoke to Francis about the situation with Burke.
Pope Francis said, "I never used the word ‘enemy’ nor the pronoun ‘my.’ I simply announced the fact at the meeting of the dicastery heads, without giving specific explanations."
Where Peter Is was founded by a "group of faithful Catholics who have become increasingly concerned about the attacks from within the Church on Pope Francis and his teachings."
Burke is one of the most outspoken critics of Pope Francis. Burke has questioned the pope's outreach to the LGBTQ community and other groups whose viewpoints don't mesh with traditional beliefs.
In October, Burke and four other cardinals challenged Francis to respond "to questions related to the synod on synodality" and "were seeking reassurances about the 'perennial truths' taught by the church and not attacking the person of Pope Francis," according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Burke said at a conference, "The five 'dubia' deal exclusively with the perennial doctrine and discipline of the church, not the agenda of the pope and certainly not the agenda of the five of us cardinals. They have nothing to do with the person of the Holy Father and, in fact, by their nature they are an expression of the veneration owed to the Petrine office and the successor of St. Peter."
He added, "The sheep depend on the courage of pastors who must protect them from the poison of confusion, error, and division."
Burke told the Wall Street Journal, "People can draw their own conclusions about why the Holy Father told this to Austen Ivereigh and not the person concerned," Burke said.
A defiant Burke said he wouldn't leave Rome.
"It’s my duty as a cardinal to remain in Rome," he declared.
According to Burke's website, Burke was ordained a bishop in 1995 by Pope Saint John Paul II and then named a cardinal in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI.
In 1989, Burke was appointed as the Defender of the Bond at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura — the Vatican’s high court in Rome, Italy.
In 2008, he founded the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The same year, Cardinal Burke was appointed as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.
Burke was appointed as the cardinal patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 2014.
Francis fired Burke as the Vatican’s high court justice in 2014.
Burke is the second conservative American prelate to be punished by Pope Francis this month. As Blaze News previously reported, Pope Francis forcibly removed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.
Strickland — a self-described "red-pilled" bishop — has been a leading critic of Pope Francis and often challenged his leadership on social media.
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