Clarity Restored
The pontificate of the late Pope Francis was, for some Catholics, a source of pain and frustration, but it was almost universally recognized as a source of confusion. The Jesuit Pontiff would often speak “off the cuff” during press conferences, so that many faithful Catholics came to dread those moments when the Pope would address the press corps aboard his airplane. Almost invariably, questions about the longstanding moral teachings of the Catholic Church would be met not with courageous clarity but with some meandering, labyrinthine anecdote or analogy that was not technically incorrect — but practically required hours of study to reach such a conclusion, and often hours more to untangle the mess for those less familiar with the Church’s teachings.
[T]he Church is not shaken by the world’s turmoil but rests on the firm, unchanging foundation of Christ.
Pope Leo XIV is not only reversing this trend, speaking with clarity and conviction, but is at least making an effort to reverse much of the confusion. While Pope Francis was often (understandably) mistaken for an open-borders, pro-immigration activist, Pope Leo XIV is instead balancing the Church’s teachings on human dignity with her teachings on sovereignty, security, and cultural preservation. When asked about immigration last week, the Pontiff said that “my answer begins with a question: what is the Global North doing to help the Global South, or those countries where young people today cannot find a future and therefore dream of moving north?” He continued, “Everyone wants to go north, but often the North has no answers on how to offer them opportunities.… Many suffer. The issue of human trafficking is also part of migration.”
The Pope added that “a State has the right to regulate its borders. I am not saying that everyone must be allowed to enter without order, sometimes creating in destination countries situations more unjust than those they left behind.” This statement alone is a firm rebuke against those who accuse Pope Leo XIV of being “weak” on immigration or advocating the invasion of Western nations by the third world; it also serves to clarify the position advocated by Pope Francis, who often failed to emphasize the right of nations to control their borders in his zeal to assert the dignity of immigrants.
Pope Leo XIV, on the other hand, called on would-be-immigrants to remain in their homelands and improve their own countries, further urging not only governments but corporations to invest resources and care in impoverished nations. The point, Pope Leo XIV said, “I would like to make is that, in any case, they are human beings, and we must treat human beings humanely, not treat them worse than animals.” “It is a very big challenge: a country can say it cannot receive more than a certain number of people, but when people arrive, they are human beings and deserve the respect that belongs to every human being because of their dignity.”
The Holy Father’s point is well taken. Much (though by no means all) of mass migration is spurred by the severely impoverished conditions of the countries which immigrants abandon. If those countries could be improved enough, then there would not only be no reason for immigrants to leave their homelands, but there would be a significantly decreased moral obligation for Western nations to accept those immigrants.
Of course, the investments and good will of Western nations and even corporations can only do so much to realize such conditions — and those efforts have often failed in years past. What is most necessary is for those in impoverished nations to strive to improve their homelands, instead of simply abandoning them in search of fabled greener pastures.
As Pope Leo XIV noted, the situation immigrants create in the countries they move to may not be much better than the situations they escaped. After all, if millions of Third World residents have done little or nothing to contribute to their own communities and improve their own homelands, abandoning their home countries instead, then why would anyone expect them to contribute to or improve the Western nations that they pour into in droves?
In response to another question, Pope Leo XIV addressed German Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s promotion of same-sex blessings, again offering greater clarity than his predecessor did on the issue. “The Holy See has already spoken to the German bishops. The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case, homosexual couples, as you asked, or couples in irregular situations, beyond what was specifically, if you will, allowed for by Pope Francis in saying all people receive blessings,” the Pontiff said.
At the time that Pope Francis issued his declaration allowing for the blessing of individuals who happened to be in same-sex unions, little effort was made by the Vatican to clarify that the move was not a license to bless same-sex unions themselves, which the Church does and has held, for centuries, to be intrinsically disordered and gravely sinful. Instead, renegade clerics like LGBT apologist and Jesuit James Martin cheerily staged photoshoots for these “spontaneous” blessings, bestowing their implicit approval upon same-sex unions.
While weeks and even months were spent trying to understand the declaration of the Francis Pontificate, Pope Leo XIV clarified the issue in a matter of minutes, explaining that the blessings approved in that case were no different than the general blessing offered by the priest at the end of Mass. If a murderer attended a Mass and was given a blessing at the Mass’s conclusion, that would, obviously, in no way indicate the Church’s approval of murder. Just so, the blessings which Pope Francis allowed to be administered to individuals who happened to be involved in same-sex relationships were not intended to convey any sort of approval of the same-sex relationships themselves. Pope Leo XIV summarized, “All are invited to follow Jesus, and all are invited to look for conversion in their lives.”
The world is often shaken by varying issues, from global wars to mass immigration, from abortion and euthanasia to questions on sexual morality and the purpose of the family. Under the pontificate of Pope Francis, many lost sight of a simple truth: the Church is not shaken by the world’s turmoil but rests on the firm, unchanging foundation of Christ. Pope Leo XIV not only understands this, but has the clarity and courage to proclaim it.
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