Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de las Casas (Mexico), said that “it is not a sin to be homosexual”, but “to practice homosexual relations, because this does depend on the personal will.”
In a reflection within the framework of the “gay pride month”, the cardinal commented that he has seen many people “struggling to be respected”, while others took the opportunity to “exhibit in positions and movements of all trend.”
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He clarified that the Catholic Church “has defended that they can even be given a personal blessing, to make a request to God to bless them, as we blessed so many people without analyzing their personal situation, but taking care that this blessing is not confused with a legitimation, as if it were a marriage union between same -sex people.”
Cardinal Arizmendi thus referred to the statement Confidence in supplicatingpublished in December 2023 by the Dicasterio for the doctrine of faith, which allows priests to offer such blessings out of liturgical contexts.
He stressed that it is important to show them “merciful love and respect”, but recalled that the truth should not weaken: “God made only two sexes, male and female, and marriage complementation is only blessed between a man and a woman.”
“No contempt and discrimination”
The Cardinal added that, in some cases, “it has been identified that homosexuality can originate in dysfunctions in the relationship with paternal and maternal figures, be rejection, be identification,” and explained that some homosexual trends may arise from unconscious mechanisms from childhood, according to psychology.
“So far, there is no personal responsibility; therefore, it is not a sin to be homosexual; the sinful thing is to practice homosexual relationships, because this does depend on personal will,” he said.
Faced with this reality, he asked the faithful Catholics to be “respectful of homosexuals; no contempt and discrimination,” while reiterating the call to proclaim the teaching of the Catholic Church and remember that “personal experiences that affect this reality must be carefully attended and respected.”
What does the Catholic Church say?
He Catechism of the Catholic Church Defines homosexuality as “the relationships between men or women who experience a sexual, exclusive or predominant attraction towards people of the same sex.”
This inclination, the text points out, “constitutes for most of them an authentic test.” For this reason, it is indicated that “they must be welcomed with respect, compassion and delicacy. It will be avoided, with respect to them, any sign of unfair discrimination.”
The Catechism reiterates that “tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disorderly. They are contrary to natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not come from a true affective and sexual complementarity. They cannot receive approval in any case.”
Diego López Colín
I am a graduate of journalism at the Carlos Septién García school with experience of religious institutional communication. Since 2016 I write for digital media and, since 2018, I report the most important news about the Catholic event in Mexico for the Ewtn news channel. ACI Press correspondent in Mexico since 2023.