These sick, deluded people need Christ more than any, as they are a symbol of the failure and sin of our era. We all have sinned and need Christ as our Redeemer, Catholics and Protestants alike. But we don't need the highest ranking cleric of either persuasion even appearing to sanction the sinful, unnatural, biblically forbidden practices of homosexual couples that our judiciary now calls "marriage".
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this one photo of Pope Francis and a "gay" couple indicates that he approves homosexual marriage, I seriously doubt that he does. But it does seem, to me at least, to question the propriety of him allowing publication of a photo that may suggest to some people that homosexual "marriage" is something other than a damnable perversion of the divinely created institution of holy matrimony. Just because four women and one wishy-washy man say that it's a guaranteed right doesn't make it so.
Scandalous Past of Msgr. Ricca is Confirmed
Pope Francis raised eyebrows earlier this month by concelebrating Mass with and kissing the hand of a leading homosexual activist priest campaigning for changes in the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. On May 6, Francis received the 93 year-old priest who has cofounded the homosexualist activist organization, Agedo Foggia, that is opposed to Catholic Church teaching.
Fr. (Don) Michele de Paolis concelebrated Mass with Pope Francis at the Domus Santa Martha and then presented the pontiff with gifts of a wooden chalice and paten and a copy of his most recent book, “Dear Don Michele - questions to an inconvenient priest”. In a previous book, Don Michele wrote, “homosexual love is a gift from (God) no less than heterosexual.”
The Vatican Bollettino for today reports that Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP, has been appointed by Pope Francis as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The former Master General of the Dominican Order is a prominent supporter of the Kasperite proposal in favor of communion for the "divorced and remarried". He has also spoken out in favor of the ordination of women, if not to the priesthood, then at least to the diaconate (see this.) However he is more famous for his frequent public interventions pushing for greater acceptance of homosexuality, having been a frequent celebrant of the infamous "gay Masses" in Soho, London. Rorate has noted his blatant support for homosexuality a couple of times (see this and this - scroll to the bottom of each post).
It is true that Radcliffe has "opposed" "gay marriage", but his farcical "opposition" rests on grounds entirely contrary to those of the Church: Radcliffe opposes it because, in his words: "'gay marriage' ultimately, we believe, demeans gay people by forcing them to conform to the straight world."
"We must accompany [gay people] as they discern what this means, letting our images be stretched open... This means watching 'Brokeback Mountain,' reading gay novels, living with our gay friends and listening with them as they listen to the Lord." Timothy Radcliffe