Re: “The Bible and Same-Sex Unions” (letters, Arthur Saginian, March 15). I read that letter and can’t resist making some comments:
1) Pope Francis NEVER approved allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex unions. It was first reported that he did and it did cause a great deal of controversy. However, reading the specifics, it becomes clear that it was never meant to bless such unions or marriages. One could argue whether it was even necessary to issue any statement at all since it basically does not change anything. Blessings of people have always been permissible and are intended for people who intend to make a change. The church never intended to bless anything considered sinful or sinful action. Subsequently, to avoid further confusion, Pope Francis made it very clear that there never was a statement or intention to bless homosexual marriages. Ironically, the LBGTQ community understood that rather quickly and was rather disappointed.
2) You are correct: Jesus never specifically condemned or mentioned same-sex marriage.
However, he did not come to replace the “Old Covenant” as the writer of the letter indicated. Jesus specifically said: “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” The Old Covenant was rather specific (Leviticus 18 and 20) of what is allowed and what is not. Jesus did not abolish them although he did not specifically address them again. Paul understood this perfectly when he made his statements. Jesus did, however, talk extensively about immorality.
3) The letter continues: Homosexual marriages were not condemned during the Old Testament period because it was ‘sinful.’ Homosexual unions could not produce children in those days, and filling their heads with the fear of God, it was about the only way to force them into marrying the opposite sex and having more children!” Really? Do homosexual marriages produce children today? To stop our no-growth population by birth due to lack of having children, or aborting them, maybe we should force families to have more children!
Hilmar Rosenast
Valencia
