ROME – Pope Francis announced on December 8 his intention to appoint 21 new cardinals, including pro-LGBT Dominican friar Timothy Radcliffe.
In 2023, the Pope selected Awakened Friars to open the Vatican Synod on Synodality. The monk began his speech with the following confession: I don't know which is worse. ”
“All these aspects of my identity limit my understanding. Therefore, please forgive the inadequacy of my words.” said Father Radcliffe, a leader of the progressive wing of the church for decades and largely sidelined during the reign of Pope John Paul II, found new life under Francis.
The former president of the Dominican Order addressed the conference participants, explaining the dire situation in the world caused by climate change and immigration.
“The future looks bleak,” he declared. “Ecological catastrophe threatens to destroy our homes. This summer, wildfires and floods swept the world. Small islands begin to disappear into the ocean.”
“Millions of people are fleeing poverty and violence,” he continued. “Hundreds of people drowned in the Mediterranean not far from here.”
“Many parents refuse to bring their children into a world that is dying,” he says. “Young people in China are wearing T-shirts that say 'We are the last generation.'”
The preacher went on to suggest that one's doctrinal position does not really matter before God.
“If we are truly on the path to the Kingdom, does it really matter whether you ally with the so-called traditionalists or the progressives?” he asked.
Father Radcliffe has been a vocal supporter of progressive causes for decades, often lending his voice to lobbying efforts to reform gay sex. claim There is always time for future “evolution” in Catholic moral education, which has made him a darling of the LGBT lobby.
“The question always is: Will the Church's teaching change? That's not the question,” Radcliffe said last year in relation to the Church's moral position on homosexuality. “The question is whether we love and welcome our fellow citizens.”
“If evolution is going to happen, it will happen,” he added. “But we don't have to start by asking what changes we need to make.”
Radcliffe publicly opposes church policies Prohibited About admitting men with homosexual tendencies to seminaries to become priests.
In an interview with london times 2005, Radcliffe claimed Homophobia and misogyny should be grounds for rejecting a candidate for the priesthood, but being homosexual is not.
“There is no doubt that God calls homosexuals to the priesthood. They are some of the most dedicated and impressive priests I have ever met,” he said.
in 2006 address At the Los Angeles Religious Education Conference, Radcliffe called on the church to “stand by” homosexuals.
“We must accompany them in understanding what this means and expand our image,” he recommended. “This means watching “Brokeback Mountain,'' reading gay novels, living with gay friends, and listening with them as they listen to the Word of the Lord. I will.”
In 2013, Father Radcliffe claimed Homosexual sex may be “eucharistic” and an expression of Christ's gift of self in the Eucharist.
We cannot begin with the question of whether homosexual acts are permissible or prohibited!, he said. “We have to ask what that means and to what extent it is Eucharistic.”
“Certainly, it can be generous, it can be vulnerable, it can be gentle, it can be reciprocal, it can be nonviolent. So I think in many ways it can express the gift of Christ's self. ” he said.
“You can also see how it can express mutual loyalty, a contractual relationship that binds two people to each other forever,” he added.
Following the announcement that Pope Francis had chosen Father Radcliffe as a cardinal, papal biographer Austin Ivery said: said He was “delighted” with the appointment and called Radcliffe “the Gandalf of the Council”.
LGBT advocate Father James Martin sent Radcliffe a “special congratulations” and praised the Dominican friar as “our incredible retreat master.”
