Pope Francis' recent snub of France's ambassador, Laurent Stefanini, shows that while the Catholic Church has made some laudable reforms, it has not done enough to make itself a relevant institution for the 21st century. Mr. Stefanini, who is openly gay, has had extensive experience with the French government, including serving as the number two man for the French Embassy to the Vatican.
Stéfanini has been described in the French media as a “brilliant” diplomat. He is a graduate of France’s elite Ecole Nationale d’Administration. He knows the Vatican well, having been first councillor to the French embassy there between 2001 and 2005, and has served as an adviser to the French foreign affairs ministry. He has been head of protocol for former centre-right president Nicolas Sarkozy and the socialist Hollande.
So, there is no question about Mr. Stefanini's qualification; there are no scandals that we are aware of. This is a matter of a church that is losing members due to a reluctance to accept change and which is continuing to become increasingly irrelevant.
The Vatican and France have been at odds over the latter country's passage of a law in 2013 legalizing gay marriage. But this is a matter for the French people and the French government to decide. The Vatican does not have veto power over France's internal affairs any more than the US has a moral right to exercise veto power over other countries or Russia has veto power over Ukraine's actions. If the Pope wishes to follow through on his "who am I to judge" remark early in his papacy, he should accept Mr. Stefanini's nomination. We note that the Vatican didn't object to Mr. Stefanini's service anytime between 2001 and 2005.
This is part of an overall pattern in which Pope Francis continues to deny equality to gays and transgendered people. Regarding transgendered people, he was quoted as saying last year:
According to the National Catholic Reporter, he said: “Let’s think of the nuclear arms, of the possibility to annihilate in a few instants a very high number of human beings. Let’s think also of genetic manipulation, of the manipulation of life, or of the gender theory, that does not recognize the order of creation. With this attitude, man commits a new sin, that against God the Creator. The true custody of creation does not have anything to do with the ideologies that consider man like an accident, like a problem to eliminate. God has placed man and woman and the summit of creation and has entrusted them with the earth. The design of the Creator is written in nature.”
Also, as part of the pattern,
Pope Francis hosted a traditional marriage forum last November at which many religious right leaders from this country were represented.
Next week, American Religious Right leaders including the Southern Baptist Convention’s Russell Moore, pastor Rick Warren, Archbishop of Philadelphia Charles Chaput, and Latter-Day Saints official Henry Eyring will be joining opponents of LGBT equality from around the world at an interfaith conference on the “complementarity of man and woman in marriage” hosted by the Vatican.
Tony Perkins was also at this conference.
Pope Francis has initiated many laudable reforms within the Catholic Church, including initiatives on the environment. He is personally involved in fighting the problem of poverty and seeking to address inequality. He is also moving to address the sexual abuse scandals which have plagued the Church over the last two decades.
However, in order to become more relevant, the Church needs to do what Pope Francis' predecessor, John Paul II, did with Galileo and reevaluate its teachings in light of modern science. It has been determined that both same-sex people and transgendered people have genes which help influence that person's sexual orientation and gender identity. Given what we now know from science, we know that same-sex couples and transgendered people are part of the order of creation in the same way that we learned that the earth revolves around the sun. Theology, philosophy, and ideology should always be in harmony with science in order to be credible.
True reform comes from seeing things as they actually are, not how we want to see things. Recognizing climate change and the impacts that it can have on humanity is critical for the future development of our world society. Pope Francis himself recognizes the Turkish slaughter of Armenians in 1915, 100 years ago, as genocide. Recognizing it as such is critical for bringing about peace and closure. In the same way, Pope Francis should recognize gay and transgender people as part of the natural order of creation, not something that is somehow deviant or a moral failure.