Pope Francisc praised the Italian writer Francesca Pardi who published a book for children including stories with lesbian rabbits and a couple of gay penguins.
The book generated several controversies and the mayor of Venice banned it together with 50 other titles from local schools. The decision led more than 250 other Italian famous writers to demand their own books be removed from the bookstores and schools from Venice in order to “protest against an appalling gesture of censorship and ignorance”.
As a response the pontiff sovereign came in the debates and sent an official letter to the writer praising her for the initiative, informs The Guardian.
Francesca Pardi writes in the book “Piccolo Uovo” (“Little Egg”) the story about an egg that goes under the care of a pair of gay penguins, about lesbian rabbits who successfully brought up a family, as well as other family models, including a single parent female hippo, a mixed race dog couple, and kangaroos that have adopted polar bear cubs. Conservatives accuse the Italian writer of promoting a pro-homosexuality gender theory.
The writer sent to the Pope a package with more books related to the same theme and a letter where she justifies her decision to publish this book: “Many parishes across the country are in this period sullying our name and telling falsehoods about our work which deeply offend us. We have respect for Catholics … A lot of Catholics give back the same respect, why can’t we have the whole hierarchy of the Catholic Church behind us?” Pardi wrote. “His holiness is grateful for the thoughtful gesture and for the feelings which it evoked, hoping for an always more fruitful activity in the service of young generations and the spread of genuine human and Christian values,”” wrote Peter B Wells, a senior official at the Vatican secretariat of state.
Several times The Vatican deemed that gay relations are “intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law” preaching a doctrine that according to gay persons must live a life of chastity in order to be “good Catholics”. The current Pope had actually a more welcoming approach to the gay community.
He claimed during a speech that the “Catholic Church” cannot “spiritually come in” the lives of gays and with other occasion he declared about the gay priests that “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge them?”
“Stable gay relationship is better than a ‘temporary’ one”, says Cardinal Schönborn. “The Church should not look in the bedroom first. It must accompany people.”
The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn spoke on an interview for La Civilta Cattolica about his divorced parents, about the relationships of one of his friends and about the hopes he has from the next Synod dedicated to Family, informs Catholic Herald.
The Cardinal spoke about the situation of a gay friend who, after a period of more short-term relationships, presently has a stable one.
“It’s an improvement,” he said. “They share a life, they share their joys and sufferings, they help one another. It must be recognized that this person took an important step for his own good and the good of the others, even though it is certainly not a situation the Church can consider ‘regular’.” added Schönborn.
The Church’s negative “judgment about homosexual acts is necessary”, he said, “but the Church should not look in the bedroom first, but in the dining room! It must accompany people.”
Pastoral accompaniment “cannot transform an irregular situation into a regular one”, he said, “but there do exist paths for healing, for learning,” for moving gradually closer to a situation in compliance with the Church teaching.
“We are not at risk of diluting the clarity [of Church teaching] while walking with people because we are called to walk in the faith,” he said. He added that no synod member wants to change the Church teaching.
source Cuvântul Ortodox (Orthodox Word)
