Francis Cheers ‘Pastoral Zeal’ Of LGBT Crusader

Jimmy-Boy Martin, SJLGBTQXYZ∞ gets a pat on the back from Francis. Whatever happened to, 'You are forgiven. Go and sin no more'?

From The American Conservative

By Rod Dreher

We live in truly revolutionary times. Look at the letter Pope Francis wrote to the Father James Martin, the Jesuit crusader for the normalization of LGBT in Catholic life:

Dear brother:

Thank you for your mail and for the photos. Please thank your nephew for his kindness to me and for having chosen the name Francisco. And congratulate him on the socks. He made me laugh. Tell him that I pray for him and ask him to do so for me.

Regarding your P.S. [about the Outreach LGBT Ministry Conference], I want to thank you for your pastoral zeal and your ability to be close to people, with that closeness that Jesus had and that reflects the closeness of God. Our Heavenly Father approaches with love every one of his children, each and everyone. His heart is to open to each and everyone. He is Father. God’s “style” has three aspects: closeness, compassion and tenderness. This is how he draws closer to each one of us.

Thinking about your pastoral work, I see that you are continuously looking to imitate this style of God. You are a priest for all men and women, just as God is the Father for all men and women. I pray for you to continue in this way, being close, compassionate and with great tenderness.

And I pray for your faithful, your “parishioners,” and anyone whom the Lord places in your care, so that you protect them, and make them grow in the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please don’t forget to pray for me. May Jesus bless you and may the Holy Virgin protect you.

Fraternally,

Francisco

Here’s the original tweet:

 

America, the Jesuit magazine, writes:

Francis is well informed of the work Father Martin is doing. He has sought to encourage him in this ministry and for this reason, in a significant public gesture of encouragement and support, he received him in a private audience in the library of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace on September 30, 2019.

His letter on the eve of Saturday’s outreach conference can be understood in this same light.

And if there are any conservatives who want to pretend that this was a form letter written by someone close to the Pope, and that Francis really doesn’t know what’s in it, they should reflect that the original was written in Spanish, by Francis himself, in his own hand:

There can be no doubt that Father Martin is an extremely effective advocate of his cause. And there can equally be no doubt that as America claims, Francis is well informed of the work Father Martin is doing. I wonder, though, if the Pope knows about this:

That image is by a gay artist named Douglas Blanchard (Father Martin gives him credit in the next tweet), and is taken from his 2014 book, Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision, which depicts Jesus as a gay man. From the book’s description on Amazon:

Meet Jesus as a gay man of today in a contemporary city with The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision. In stunning new images, the modern Christ figure is jeered by fundamentalists, tortured by Marine look-alikes, and rises again to enjoy homoerotic moments with God. His surprisingly diverse friends join him on a journey from suffering to freedom. Readers call it “accessible but profound.” Some are moved to tears. The 24 paintings in the gay Passion cover Jesus’ final days, including his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. A queer Passion is important now because Christianity is being used to justify hate and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Each image is accompanied by insightful commentary, plus a short prayer and scripture. If Jesus came back today, would he be crucified all over again? Would we even recognize him? See for yourself in the gay vision of the Passion.

You can see all the paintings in the Blanchard series here. Here a a couple of them. I know some of you will be shocked and offended by this blasphemy, but you need to understand that this stuff is out there, and is being promoted by a priest whose mission is dear to Pope Francis’s heart. To be clear, Father Martin didn’t tweet out these particular images, but another one from the same series, depicting Jesus as a gay man. This is the artistic fruit of a profoundly corrupt mind:

 

The work Father Martin is doing is for the sake of mainstreaming and normalizing this kind of thing in the Catholic Church. And he’s very, very good at it. Consider again the Pope’s words to him: “I want to thank you for your pastoral zeal and your ability to be close to people, with that closeness that Jesus had and that reflects the closeness of God.”

Something big is happening, right in front of our eyes.

Meanwhile, on the Italian front, the Vatican has taken an unusual step of asking the Italian state to reconsider a proposed antidiscrimination bill, on the grounds that it violates religious liberty guarantees given to the Catholic Church under a longstanding treaty. The Church has already warned that the bill could lead to criminal proceedings against those who believe a family requires a father and a mother — which is the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is where Francis’s sentimental characterization of Father Martin’s ministry is leading. It is an extraordinary thing.