Since people think I make a ton of money defending Pope Francis (the tellers at my bank are laughing right now), this one is for free. LifeSiteNews interviewed the new head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the faith – Cardinal Fernandez – “on the day he was made cardinal” which was on September 30th, 2023 but they only made the interview available on October 19th, 2023. Note below:
I note this because in the time between these two dates, LifeSiteNews ran article an article on October 3rd saying Pope Francis allows for clergy to decide for themselves if they wish to bless gay “unions.” Here is a screenshot confirming this claim:
Now consider they posted this when they were sitting on an interview where Cardinal Fernandez explicitly told them: “What the Church said is that the homosexual union is not blessed…”. Fernandez then says that the discussion on blessings for gay people surrounds the question of blessing same-sex attracted persons with a blessing to enable them to live a holier life – not a blessing to approve their sinful union. Note Fernandez’s words below:
Also, consider that LifeSiteNews immediately buried their interview with Fernandez in an obscure part of their website and under a misleading title that not only misrepresents what he told them, but also doesn’t call attention to this massive news. Their headline should have been: CARDINAL FERNANDEZ CONFIRMS THE CHURCH CANNOT BLESS GAY UNIONS. As seen below, the headline chosen by LifeSiteNews was: “EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal Fernández says blessings are for ‘every’ person in ‘every situation’.”
Make of this whatever you will. But if this were a court case, it would come across as withholding and tampering with evidence. Perhaps LifeSiteNews has a legitimate explanation for the long delay in posting the interview and the contradictions in what they reported on October 3rd vs. what they were told by Fernandez on September 30th. However, to date, they have not explained these discrepancies or issued any retractions.
Unfortunately, Pope Francis has been wrongly convicted by international news (both secular and Catholic) as approving gay unions when the facts say otherwise. Will the critics set the record straight now and give Pope Francis a retrial?
