CV NEWS FEED // A new op-ed for a well-known Christian release stated that several Protestants look to the Catholic Church to uphold Bible conscience on matters like marriage and sexuality—and that all Christians should be concerned about current events that have occurred there.
Zachary Mettler published an article titled” An Explainer for Evangelicals: Here’s Where the Catholic Church is Headed on LGBT Issues” on December 5 in The Daily Citizen, the official publication of the pro-life christian organization Focus on the Family.
Mettler explained why” Christians who believe in a bible physical ethic” should be concerned about the Catholic Church’s new documents and conversations on LGBT issues. He did this in reference to the Synod on Synonality, which was held at the Vatican in October, as well as recent comments from Pope Francis and the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith.
Under the pontificates of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican was usually regarded as the ideal of firm and distinct spiritual training, according to Mettler,” for those who affirm bible beliefs on our culture’s warm button moral issues, such as abortion, same-sex marriage, contraception, and transgenderism.”
Mettler even cited Al Mohler, the leader of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who said:
The pope of the Roman Catholic Church has had a significant impact on matters pertaining to the purity of human existence, the definition of marriage, and the knowledge of gender and sexuality. This influence has persisted in Christian teaching for two millennia.
The progressivist and relativist spiritual teachings that have permeated so much of culture, the interpretation of sexuality and marriage, and, of course, those which have resulted in such an assault on pregnant animal life, have been somewhat restrained by the Roman Catholic Church.
According to Mettler,” confusion and misunderstanding seem to have grown under Pope Francis ‘ leadership,” despite the Church’s consistent history with regard to lessons about marriage and gender. On World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis hosted a group of trans people for breakfast at the Vatican.
Mettler also cited the most recent article from the Synod on Symbiodality, which stated that” sometimes the anthropological groups that we have developed are not enough to capture the complexity of the elements that emerge from practice or scientific awareness and demand elegance and more study.”
Mettler wrote that “evangelicals may get satisfaction and know that the Catholic Church has not changed its training on Gay problems” after providing these cases.
He went on,
The synodal agreement, the DDF record, and the Vatican’s acceptance of transgender people are the three examples mentioned above, but they have no impact on how the church views sex or sexuality.
Mettler cited passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church outlining the Church’s place on wedding and sexuality, as well as a canon lawyer who clarified that no lessons have been altered.
The church’s position on LGBT concerns is still evident, Mettler wrote, “even though the Vatican does publish muddled documents and the bishop may say ambiguous things.” Pastoral and practical considerations are crucial, but they should n’t be mistaken for a “official change” in the church’s doctrine.
Mettler wrote in a subheading,” Devout Catholics Feel the Church’s Teaching Does Not Change.” He clarified that a pope cannot alter widely accepted doctrines of the Catholic Church in accordance with the traditional view of that body’s part.
Christians may find solace in the fact that the Catholic Church has never altered its lessons on important issues of morality and sexuality, according to Mettler, “even though clarity and unwavering conservatism have not been a cornerstone of the Vatican in recent years.”
