Pope Francis condemns gender theory a third time: ‘The family is under attack’

NAPLES, Italy, March 23, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- For at least the third time in his pontificate Pope Francis has used very strong language to condemn the gender theory, one of the intellectual underpinnings of the ‘LGBT’ agenda. Speaking Sunday with young people on his voyage to Naples, Italy, Pope Francis spoke of the “ideological colonization” of families seen throughout Europe and the West.

“Gender theory is an error of the human mind that leads to so much confusion," he said. “So the family is under attack.” As to how to deal with the “secularization” or the “ideological colonization,” the pope said he does not have the answer. He pointed however to the Synod on the Family, which he called inspired by the Lord.

The comments echo those made in an in-flight interview Pope Francis gave while returning from Manila in the Philippines on January 19, 2015. Francis lamented the Western practice of imposing a homosexual agenda on other nations through foreign aid, which he called a form of “ideological colonization” and compared it to the Nazi propaganda machine.

Asked by a reporter to explain the phrase “ideological colonization,” the pope gave an example from 1995 when, he says, a minister of education in a poor area was told she could have a loan for building schools so long as the schools used a book that taught “gender theory.”

"This is ideological colonization,” he said. “It colonizes the people with an idea that wants to change a mentality or a structure." This ideological colonization, he added, “is not new, the dictators of the last century did the same.” "They came with their own doctrine. Think of the BalilLa (The Fascist Youth under Mussolini), think of the Hitler youth."

The first comments from Francis along these lines were in an October 2014 interview that was only published in January 2015 in the book “Papa Francesco: questa economia uccide” (‘Pope Francis: this economy kills’).

In it the pope speaks of modern-day "Herods" that "destroy, that plot designs of death, that disfigure the face of man and woman, destroying creation." Giving examples of these, he says: "Let's think of the nuclear arms, of the possibility to annihilate in a few instants a very high number of human beings. Let's think also of genetic manipulation, of the manipulation of life, or of the gender theory, that does not recognize the order of creation."

"With this attitude, man commits a new sin, that against God the Creator. … God has placed man and woman and the summit of creation and has entrusted them with the earth. … The design of the Creator is written in nature."

Pope Francis’ condemnations of gender theory follow in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI who explained the “profound falsehood” of gender theory and the “anthropological revolution contained within it.”

Benedict described the gender theory as people disputing “the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being.” Rather than acknowledging that God created people male and female, the theory contends that these are societal constructs and we now may decide for ourselves.

“When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being,” Benedict concluded. “The defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears.”

The problem is that he will say or do something completely at odds with this tomorrow or the next day. The Pope’s invitation to the Vatican of the “transgendered” Spanish woman who thinks she is a man - forcing her diocese to pay for it, btw - caused great distress, since she emerged saying she felt “supported.” Also, the Pope invited her after she wrote to him to complain that her parish priest had told her that Satan was tempting her and she should not start this “transgender” process. So apparently, the Pope didn’t tell her the same thing.

I wish he’d make up his mind about who he is. I think he gets so caught up in wanting to be loved by the press that sometimes his gestures get away from him. He’s very publicity oriented, and also very much focused on himself and his own personality, as opposed to simply representing Catholic teaching. So I feel you never know what he is going to say...and obviously, the press thinks that as well, and they just wait for him to give them those “one-liners”.

The LGBT activist groups would be thrilled to maximize the impression that the Pope OK's "gender reassignment." So it's essential to notice that that even Francis deBarnardo, the exec. director of the heretical New Ways Ministry, does NOT say the pope is giving "acceptance" to the "transgender community." The furthest he would go was to say there has been "dialogue," commenting on the fact that the Vatican won't even verify the meeting with the transgender Spaniard.

You can read that here in the heretical NCR (LINK)

Speaking to CNN, the transgender, Lejarraga, said "Just the fact that you've met the holy father, without knowing what was said, people now seem to look at you in a different way."

In other words, this is all based on personal, private, pastoral outreach, a gesture of compassion, not some kind of change in doctrine.

In fact, every time Pope Francis has addressed "gender theory" or "gender ideology," he has condemned it in the strongest terms.

This brings to mind for me the example of Jesus. We all know that when he saved the adulterous woman from being stoned to death, he also told her to "sin no more."

Yes. Let's go on and look at another encounter with an adulterous woman: the Samaritan woman at the well. He revealed that He knew about her adultery, but it isn't recorded that he used the opportunity to tell her she had to leave husbands #2, 3, 4, and 5, nor the man she was living with at the time; He just offers her the "living water" of eternal life and shares the secret that he had hidden even from many of His disciples: that He is indeed the Messiah.

Would you say that that shows Jesus was OK with quintuple marriage with a little extra on the side? Of course not. But it does show that He was willing to set aside all conventional respectability in talking with (1) a woman, (2) a Samaritan, (3) a person living in a flagrant sexual liaison, in order to win one more soul for the Kingdom, and even permit her to be a messenger to others of His coming.

I suppose the Pharisees would say He muddled the bright line between virtue and vice, and affirmed her in her sin. I think not. I think it shows He was willing to see her as a person not entirely defined by her transgressions.

There's a kind of folksy saying, but I think it's true:

The devil calls you by your sin, and erases your name.

Jesus calls you by your name, and erases your sin.

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