Does Pope bring Change to the Church?

by Mark Segal of Philadelphia Gay News

Way back in 2013, this column did something that no one ever expected: it showed hope for the future of the Catholic Church, directly because of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina becoming Pope Francis. You have to recall that until that time, this column was a drumbeat of pushing reform in the Church to end its hateful and harmful words and tactics against the LGBTQ community.

My hope was that Pope Francis would change the Church. As I've been told on many occasions, the church is an old institution and it takes an enormous amount of time to change. Well, even with all the ups and downs with Pope Francis, I still believe in him. Here's why.

The minute I heard his name mentioned as Pope, I recalled a friend telling me about his politics in Argentina where, when the President was about to announce that she would support marriage equality, Pope Francis, who was then the Cardinal of Buenos Aires and who opposed marriage equality, had a chat with the President and asked if she would do domestic partners rather then marriage, because he could then support it. She turned him down, but that proved that he wasn't immovable on the issue. That, and the fact that he also publicly had LGBT friends, gave me hope.

My day was brightened when he made that famous statement "If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them?" That was in his first year. Then came "We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their [LGBTQ] son or daughter." On the other side were his confusing statements on gender, saying this "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."

What it all boils down to is that the Church is a political organization with many conservatives. The last Pope, Benedict, is the symbol of that conservative right, and the more liberal side is Pope Francis. Those conservative are warring with Francis, especially over the issue of LGBT people and our very lives.

But I still have a burning flame of hope for Francis to be victorious. Each time I'm about to give up on him, he sends out a signal. And what better way to do so but send a Vatican speaker to an LGBT friendly ministry.

This April, Sr. Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, will be delivering the 2022 Father Robert Nugent Memorial Lecture.

In the organization's announcement they stated "Speaking to LGBTQ people and their allies, Sr. Nathalie will explore the topic of synodality [which is the ways in which the church achieves its mission] as a path of reconciliation. The present Synod on Synodality from 2021-2023 aims at the synodal conversion of the Church to become a listening Church and an inclusive Church with the style of discernment. The question Sister Nathalie will offer some thoughts on: How can we put synodality into practice?"

Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, also says in the announcement:

"For decades, LGBTQ people have tried to dialogue with Catholic leaders, and have been too often rebuffed. Now, with Pope Francis' leadership, real listening and learning can happen as we journey together through the synodal process. Sr. Nathalie's encounter with LGBTQ people and their allies is hopefully only a beginning for rich, new dialogue taking root in the church."