[Brian Kopp DPM]

The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself.

March 28, 2003, Joseph Card. Ratzinger

Moral conscience requires that, in every occasion, Christians give witness to the whole moral truth, which is contradicted both by approval of homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons. Therefore, discreet and prudent actions can be effective; these might involve: unmasking the way in which such tolerance might be exploited or used in the service of ideology; stating clearly the immoral nature of these unions; reminding the government of the need to contain the phenomenon within certain limits so as to safeguard public morality and, above all, to avoid exposing young people to erroneous ideas about sexuality and marriage that would deprive them of their necessary defences and contribute to the spread of the phenomenon. Those who would move from tolerance to the legitimization of specific rights for cohabiting homosexual persons need to be reminded that the approval or legalization of evil is something far different from the toleration of evil.

In those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty. One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws and, as far as possible, from material cooperation on the level of their application. In this area, everyone can exercise the right to conscientious objection.

June 3, 2003, Joseph Card. Ratzinger

This is the measure against which Pope Francis' recent statements must be judged.

[FourtySeven]

Thanks for posting. That’s a great post.

The way I see it, one can look at those words of then Cardinal Ratzinger and Francis’ words in two ways:

In opposition to each other.

Or complimenting each other.

I prefer the latter, unless led otherwise. For example, there’s been a few posts here and there about Francis’ “support for gay unions in Argentina”.(paraphrased)

Anyone wanna provide proof of that? If not, I see no reason to not go with the latter of the two alternatives I gave above. Especially in this season of Lent.