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Vatican says 'no' to transsexual godparents amid Spain controversy
cna ^ | September s, 2015

Posted on 09/02/2015 1:45:03 PM PDT by NYer

A view of the facade of St. Peter's Basilica from the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, Feb. 14, 2015. Credit: Lauren Cater/CNA.

A view of the facade of St. Peter's Basilica from the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, Feb. 14, 2015. Credit: Lauren Cater/CNA.
Vatican City, Sep 2, 2015 / 12:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A media firestorm arose in Spain after a transsexual woman, who considers herself a man, asked to be the godfather of her nephew – leading a diocese's bishop to turn to the Vatican for an answer.

After writing to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about the issue earlier this month, Bishop Rafael Zornoza Boy of Cádiz and Ceuta was told that since transsexual persons are not consistently living Church teaching, its “impossible” for them to fulfill their duties as a godparent.

The bishop wrote the letter after Alex Salinas, 21 years-old and born a woman, had requested to be the godfather of her nephew.  

In their response, the congregation – charged with safeguarding Catholic teaching – said that it is “impossible to allow” a person with transsexual behavior to be a baptismal godmother or godfather.

In a Sept. 1 statement, the bishop said he turned to the Vatican due to “confusion among some of the faithful” and “the complexity and media attention garnered by this issue,” as well as the pastoral implications the decision has.

In the Vatican’s full response – which the bishop provided in his statement – the congregation explained that transsexual behavior “reveals in a public way an attitude opposite to the moral imperative of solving the problem of sexual identity according to the truth of one's own sexuality.”

“Therefore it is evident that this person does not possess the requirement of leading a life according to the faith and in the position of godfather and is therefore unable to be admitted to the position of godfather or godmother,” they said, referring to canon 874 §3 in the Code of Canon Law.

However, the congregation stressed that there is “no discrimination toward (Alex), but only the recognition of an objective lack of the requirements, which by their nature are necessary to assume the ecclesial responsibility of being a godfather.”

In his statement, Bishop Zornoza points out that the role of godparents in the sacrament of baptism is assumed “before God and his Church and, in relation to the baptized, the duty of cooperating with the parents in (the child's) Christian formation, seeking to lead a life consistent with baptismal faith and faithfully fulfilling the inherent obligations.”

Godparents must be “firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized – child or adult – on the road of Christian life,” the statement continues, referring to paragraph 1255 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The bishop also suggested that if candidates meeting the requirements to be a godparent are not found, the baptism can still be celebrated in the same form, since the figure of godparents is not necessary in this sacrament.

Bishop Zorzona recalled Pope Francis' words in his environment encyclical Laudato Si, in which the Pope said that “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different.”

“In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment,” the Pope said, adding that “it is not a healthy attitude which would seek to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it.”

At the close of his statement, Bishop Zorzona emphasized that “the Church welcomes all persons with charity, desiring to help each one in their situation with tender mercy, but without denying the truth she preaches, which is offered to everyone as a path of faith to be freely accepted.”


TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: catholic; homosexualagenda; transgender; vatican; zornoza

1 posted on 09/02/2015 1:45:03 PM PDT by NYer
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To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 09/02/2015 1:45:22 PM PDT by NYer (Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy them. Mt 6:19)
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To: NYer

The Marxist/communist pseudo pope will have to wait before pushing the envelope further.

Give pope f. another year.


3 posted on 09/02/2015 1:55:17 PM PDT by grumpygresh (We don't have Democrats and Republicans, we have the Faustian uni-party)
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To: NYer

That is good news.


4 posted on 09/02/2015 2:51:38 PM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: NYer

For later.


5 posted on 09/02/2015 3:31:14 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: grumpygresh
Good news.

Can't take it, can you?

6 posted on 09/03/2015 8:54:43 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("Justice and judgment are the foundation of His throne." - Psalm 89:15)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Well, is this good news too?

http://davidgibson.religionnews.com/2015/09/02/pope-francis-meets-red-cleric-exiled-pope-john-paul-ii/

I think that Catholics need to stop defending pope f. Just because pope f. said no to transsexuals doesn’t mean that he’s a defender of the faith.


7 posted on 09/03/2015 10:45:55 AM PDT by grumpygresh (We don't have Democrats and Republicans, we have the Faustian uni-party)
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To: grumpygresh
"But the encounter is sure to spark another round of heated speculation about what it signals about Francis’ intentions – a change in church policy or doctrine, or nothing more than an act of kindness toward an aging rebel."

But the Pope is always wrong. Got it.

8 posted on 09/03/2015 1:48:14 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (God save Pope Francis! God save the Catholic Church!)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

Do you actually think that pope f. is doing a good job defending the faith?

There have been some bad popes in the past and pope f. is just another bad one. He’s certainly no John Paul 2.


9 posted on 09/03/2015 3:25:44 PM PDT by grumpygresh (We don't have Democrats and Republicans, we have the Faustian uni-party)
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To: grumpygresh
I've got some really, really serious concerns about Pope Francis (that's capital "P" and capital "F"). I think we all have to pray and --- I almost hesitate to say it --- fast, because he's at the vortex of a whole lot of very dangerous forces.

However we play right into the Devil's game when we magnify every foot-fault and verbal gaffe, and ignore the real good which he upholds. Ever notice, for example, how the Gay propagandists (like the Advocate) and the Tabloid Trads so often take the same line? ("He's pro-faggotry, yes he is, oh yes he is! 'Who am I to judge' etc. etc." --- it's bad enough to see it on gay guys' T-shirts, but it gets rubber-stamped by FReepers on every papal thread.)

So Satan gets a hundred-fold replication and a thousand-fold amplification of bad impacts, at no extra charge, thanks to "us."

And then the good that Pope Francis does is simply silenced, as if it didn't happen. For instance, near the start of his pontificate, it's Francis who said that the Gay "Lobby," specifically, is an example of a "current of corruption"--- "Pope Bemoans Gay Lobby" (LINK)

...and then that disappears and you never hear another word about it. Then you've got what should have been a huge diplomatic incident:

Pope Francis 'refuses' gay French ambassador

... and it falls into the Media Memory Hole and nobody even knows how it ended up.

But FReepers will tell you that if he hugs some random sinner he's proclaimed their sins to be angelic virtues, and canonized them.

Very hard to discern what's really happening in an atmosphere so thick with deception.

10 posted on 09/03/2015 5:08:15 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
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