Responding to questions from journalists on Friday, the “ad interim” Director of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, confirmed that the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, received a group of approximately 50 persons working in various ways against the criminalization of homosexuality.
During the meeting, research on the criminalization of homosexual relationships in the Caribbean was presented to the Vatican Secretary of State.
Cardinal Parolin extended a brief greeting to those present, repeating the Catholic Church’s position in defense of the dignity of every human person and against every form of violence.
After having listened to the presentations of some of the participants at the meeting, Cardinal Parolin then assured that he would inform the Holy Father of the contents of the research.
Homosexuality is a sexual preference. A sexual preference often leads to sexual desire. Thoughts, as well as desires, are abstractions that have not yet been acted upon, and are usually not subject to punishment(s) under man's laws.
Under God's laws, the outcome may be different, in particular for gay men who engage in sodomy if one substitutes the word "sodomy" for "adultery", the word "woman" for "man" and the word "him" for "her" in the passage quoted below without paragraph numbers [2]:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Many (heterosexuals, homosexuals and every other kind sexual beings) have taken the position that homosexual inclination necessarily leads to sexual acts because for them chastity is impossible and is therefore not an option. They are not to be blamed since lust and lustful actions are common. Even some clerics, possibly many, are unable to keep their vow of chastity.
French journalist and author Frédéric Martel claimed in his book, In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy that "[e]ighty per cent of priests working at the Vatican are gay, although not necessarily sexually active." [3]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church has addressed the topic of homosexuality and chastity as follows, quoted without references [4]:
Chastity and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
If Catholics and non-Catholics who have homosexual inclinations practice chastity in accordance with the position of the Catholic Church, then criminalization of homosexual sex acts would not even be a topic that would arise.
Three days ago, CyprusMail Online reported that "Brunei, a Muslim-majority former British protectorate with a population of around 400,000, will implement the Sharia laws from April 3, punishing sodomy, adultery and rape with the death penalty, including by stoning, and theft with amputation." [5] "Lesbians may be whipped and imprisoned." [6]
That is extreme.
According to Vatican News quoted above, Cardinal Parolin repeated the Catholic Church's position which is "against every form of violence."
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei probably has never heard of Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery, and telling her to sin no more [7] but perhaps he has heard of these words of Jesus and took them literally, quoted without paragraph numbers [8]:
If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
This passage from Matthew 5:27-30, if taken literally, too, is extreme.
Sometimes, this blogger wonders who is putting words into the mouth of Jesus in the Gospels. How can the same Jesus be both forgiving and unforgiving? The next sentences in the above passage could be these highly unlikely facetious two: And if your testicles and your head has thoughts that cause you to stumble, cut them off and throw them away. It is better for you to be a headless eunuch than for your whole body to go into Hell. Perhaps the severing of body parts from the body was intended to be metaphorical, which is consistent with "go and sin no more."
No matter what the Gospels and the Catholic Church teach, many will continue to have adulterous and/or homosexual sex. Despite this reality, the need for the criminalization of adulterous and homosexual sex could still be avoided if adulterers and sodomists live like the gay priests in the Vatican -- stay in the closet, and be like "[s]ome of the most senior clerics in the Roman Catholic church who have vociferously attacked homosexuality [and/or adultery who] are themselves gay [and/or sexually promiscuous]." [9]
[1] https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2019-04/cardinal-parolin-holy-see-press-office-homosexuality.html
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A27-28&version=NIV
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/12/four-in-five-vatican-priests-are-gay-book-claims
[4] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm
[5] https://cyprus-mail.com/2019/03/30/brunei-defends-tough-islamic-laws-stoning-homosexuals/;
https://christianaction.org/sultan-of-brunei-doubles-down-on-stoning-homosexuals/
[6] https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-brunei-stoning-gays-20190405-story.html
[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A+1-11&version=NLT
[8] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A29-30&version=NIV
[9] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/12/four-in-five-vatican-priests-are-gay-book-claims
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