Posted on 09/19/2025 8:08:44 PM PDT by ebb tide
In a public commentary on Thursday, Father James Martin, S.J., said that Pope Leo XIV’s recent remarks on homosexuality mean that Catholic doctrine on sexual morality could be changed.
Martin, writing in response to Leo’s interview with Crux Now correspondent Elise Ann Allen, said the new Pontiff was “100% correct” that it was “a matter of changing ‘attitudes.’”
“No amount of argumentation or debate, no matter how well reasoned or informed, can substitute for what Pope Francis called a ‘culture of encounter,’” Martin wrote.
The Jesuit added that once Catholics begin seeing LGBT-identifying people as family or friends, resistance to doctrinal change collapses.
“Nothing changes a person’s attitude to LGBTQ issues faster than their child coming out to them,” he said, recalling dozens of such cases.
He also argued that bishops and priests have quietly changed their views after hearing relatives “come out” – speaking of this in terms of a “conversion experience,” and implying that those who disagree do not “see LGBTQ people as human beings,” but rather “as a stereotype, a category or an ideology.”
Martin also cited the Protestant academic Walter Brueggemann in support of setting aside reason and argumentation in favour of “stories” and experiences. He closed his remarks by urging Catholics to pray “for a change in attitude” within the Church.
When discussing his approach to LGBT issues in the interview, Leo said:
People want the Church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change. I think we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says about any given question.
Instead of stating that the Church’s teaching could not change, he only said he thought it would remain the same:
I find it highly unlikely, certainly in the near future, that the Church’s doctrine in terms of what the Church teaches about sexuality, what the Church teaches about marriage, [will change].
… I think that the Church’s teaching will continue as it is, and that’s what I have to say about that for right now.
Leo made similar comments about the ordination of women to the diaconate:
I, at the moment, don’t have an intention of changing the teaching of the Church on the topic.
While some read these words as affirming tradition, his repeated hints at possible change cast doubt on the unchanging nature of Catholic teaching on faith and morals.
By contrast, the First Vatican Council solemnly condemned the idea that dogmas proposed by the Church could come to be understood in a different sense:
If anyone says that it is possible that at some time, given the advancement of knowledge, a sense may be assigned to the dogmas propounded by the Church which is different from that which the Church has understood and understands: let him be anathema.
LifeSiteNews’ John-Henry Westen suggested that Leo’s words represented “a very clear invitation and instruction” for LGBT Catholics to work and prepare the ground for doctrinal change.
In applauding Leo’s remarks, Martin confirmed his support of this roadmap for change.
Ping
Ping
Again, its the Ambiguity machine all over
Leo XIV's words repeatedly presume that he has the power to change Catholic doctrine. But does anybody care?
Martin is a snake the way he interprets the Pope’s words.
I would suggest that the Pope read Leviticus 18 through 25 and the first chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. They deal with this subject in detail and explain the abhorrence of those sodomitic acts.
Before. In the face of? or before doctrine is to be changed? The first is how it must work to continue to be the Church established bt Hesus Christ. The latter is the prediction that the Church will be effaced in as attitudes can be changed.
Jesus, I trust in You and the gates of hell you said will not prevail.
popes will come and go, doctrine is protected.
Never mind what Jimmy Martin says; reread Pope Leo’s exact words about how doctrine can be open to change.
If you believe that homosexual priest molesters were protected and the victims ignored in the past, you ain’t seen nothing. Now these lowlifes will not only be protected but celebrated.
If you believe that homosexual priest molesters were protected and the victims ignored in the past, you ain’t seen nothing. Now these lowlifes will not only be protected but celebrated.
So, if I understand that right, when it comes to morality the church follows the crowd rather than leading it.
Isn’t it the Roman Catholic position that Church doctrine is infallible ?
This has got to stop. The Church has been on the precipice since 1965. How many more Popes are gonna spout this nonsense and defend Modernism while attacking faithful Catholics? This just can’t go on indefinitely. Something’s gotta give.
“Nothing changes a person’s attitude to LGBTQ issues faster than their child coming out to them,” he said, recalling dozens of such cases.“
How does this idea work with criminality, murder, rape…? “Attitudes “ have never figured in matters of doctrine. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the basis of doctrine. The Church is slitting its throat.
Doctrine comes from God, not attitudes. What a dolt.
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