Above: the Vatican News photo of the meeting.
According to America magazine, with help from the confirming Vatican News photos, Pope Leo met privately with Fr. James Martin for 30 minutes as part of the Outreach Jubilee pilgrimage. America gushed that this meeting “is seen in Rome as a public reaffirmation of support for the American Jesuit and his pastoral ministry to LGBTQ Catholics.” In the words of Martin:
The message I received from him [Pope Leo], loud and clear, was that he wanted to continue with the same approach that Pope Francis had advanced, which was one of openness and welcome. So, it was very much a hopeful message of continuity.
Martin then emphasised that this was all a part of Synodality and Pope Francis’s words. But Martin admits that Pope Leo has other priorities, and thus will not “move as fast” as Martin and his followers might like:
So while LGBTQ issues are on his radar, other things may be more pressing for the time being. And even when addressing LGBTQ issues, he may not move as fast as some might like. By the same token, he may move far too fast for others. (In this, he would be like Francis as well.) But my overall sense is that he “gets it” and that he is ready to continue Francis’s legacy of openness, and that is surely good news.
Even though Martin mendaciously titled his report as “Pope Leo’s message for LGBTQ Catholics” he admitted in the same article that “There is more that I wish I could share about our meeting, but these meetings are ‘off the record’ so that the two people can speak freely.” OK so, by definition then this is not a message intended for the public. Martin concludes: “After he encouraged me to continue with my ministry, and our half hour was up, I asked for his blessing and knelt before him to receive it.”
Based on the conduct of Fr. James Martin, it is safe to say we cannot trust anything that he says. As I’ve said before, years ago I was hearing all these negative comments about Martin, but I decided to read his book to find out if these comments were true. Unfortunately I found that his book was dripping with snake oil. Here you can read an analysis of this snake oil from the pages of his book:
You can also read a OnePeterFive analysis of Martin’s snake oil in regards to the sensus fidelium: “James Martin Does Teach Heresy: A Response to Trent Horn.”
What do any of these recent events mean? If we assume that James Martin is accurately reporting what was said in their meeting (which is a big assumption), it amounts to nothing in particular. Like many things that Pope Leo has said and done, it’s simply unclear which way he is approaching these things. What is clear is that Pope Leo is not going to condemn Pope Francis, nor James Martin.
The other factor is that there is a difficult nuance between the flamboyant affirming of “LGBTQLMNOP” people by James Martin and the salvific mercy by Catholic apostolates for souls who suffer from same-sex attraction, like Courage International.
The nuance difference between these two – which is literally the difference between heaven and hell – can be difficult to detect, especially in the superficial world of social media mind control (“Don’t Let Social Media Send you to Hell”). The emphasis of Martin on mercy for these poor souls who struggle with same-sex attraction – on that point he’s absolutely correct. But where he goes from there is into lies and heresy which endanger every soul who comes to him for direction in their confusion.
What we can clearly see is that James Martin is making a big deal out of this, but we don’t know for sure how Pope Leo really feels about it. In any case, say a Hail Mary right now for all the souls who suffer from same-sex attraction, that Mary the Mother of Purity may bring them to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and make them whole.
Glory to God for all things!
Jesus is King!
T. S. Flanders
Editor
King St. Stephen