(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Marian Eleganti joins me on this episode of The John Henry Westen Show, filmed at this year’s Rome Life Forum. We discussed doctrinal ambiguity and confusion in the early months of Pope Leo’s pontificate on key issues such as same-sex “marriage,” women’s ordination, and more.
I began the episode by noting that some of the most controversial bishop appointments made by Pope Leo have been those who favor women’s ordination, despite their position clearly contradicting Church doctrine. I asked Bishop Eleganti if this is a sign that the pontiff is moving in the direction of attempting to change Catholic doctrine on women’s ordination.
The bishop first highlighted that the prohibition on women’s ordination is infallible and has been reaffirmed in recent decades by Pope John Paul II. Then he emphasized that perhaps Pope Leo is planning to effectively allow for women deacons without creating sacramentally ordained women.
READ: Bishop Eleganti: Vatican trying to play both sides of the women deacons question
“The danger is (for the Vatican) to create a diaconate which will not be called sacramental ordained diaconate, but somehow a diaconate for women, and then (there) will be confusion,” he said. “What will they do? Will they preach? Will they read the Holy Gospel? Will they baptize? Will they have leadership as the pastoral assistants already have? So (the issue is) not new in this sense, but it would be another step of confusion.”
“It’s always the same twist, they say … ‘the doctrine cannot be changed,’ but in practice, in a pragmatic way, they do something similar, which can cause confusion,” he added. “If two people (do) the same thing, the one because of his ordination, and the other without ordination, just with a mandate or a blessing, that’s also obstructing the sacramental character of the Body of Christ, of the Church,” he added.
Later in the episode, I asked Eleganti about Pope Leo’s scandalous meeting with the notoriously pro-LGBT Father James Martin, who openly contradicts the Church’s teaching on same-sex “marriage.” After that meeting, the Vatican failed to issue any clarification on what the meeting was about or deny Martin’s comments that Leo planned to continue showing the “same openness” toward so-called “LGBTQ Catholics” as Pope Francis did.
READ: Silence in the face of fear: Pope Leo meets with Father James Martin
Eleganti stressed that while there was no issue with Pope Leo meeting and having polite dialogue with the heterodox Martin, it’s important to clarify Catholic doctrine during such meetings or to the faithful when there’s confusion.
“I can imagine that there is a (need for) inclusivity, on the practical … level of (the) relationship, to be inclusive or tolerant, but at the same time, you should give clarity,” the bishop said. “I can speak with (Martin), of course, but I can also clarify that the position of the Church (is that) we do not accept this propaganda of homosexuality, and this kind of activism.”
“So I would not tolerate that the priest continues, (for) years and years, to have such an activist apostolate to normalize homosexuality, because the doctrine of the Church will not change,” he added. “That’s a great problem if the magisterium of the Church becomes inconsistent, auto-contradictive. That’s a very … great problem we have now, that there are many twists in a direction which contradicts prior statements of the magisterium of the Church … in such matters as homosexuality.”
To hear more from Bishop Eleganti, watch my full interview above or by clicking here.
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