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Pope Francis vs. Same-Sex “Marriage”: The Record

Pope Francis vs. Same-Sex “Marriage”: The Record

Last updated on: June 6, 2026 at 12:44 am by Dave Armstrong

Pope Francis vs. Same-Sex “Marriage”: The Record 2026-06-06T00:44:02-04:00 Dave Armstrong

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All words are those of Pope Francis (both before and during his papacy), except for additional text in blue.

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1) In the coming weeks, the Argentine people will face a situation whose outcome can seriously harm the family…At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.

Let us not be naive: this is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God’s plan. It is not just a bill (a mere instrument) but a ‘move’ of the father of lies who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God. . . .

Today the country, in this particular situation, needs the special assistance of the Holy Spirit to bring the light of truth on to the darkness of error, it need this advocate to defend us from being enchanted by many fallacies that are tried at all costs to justify this bill and to confuse and deceive the people of good will. . . .

I invoke the Lord to send his Spirit on senators who will be voting, that they do not act in error or out of expediency, but according to what the natural law and the law of God shows them . . .

We look to Saint Joseph, Mary and the Child Jesus and ask that they fervently defend the family in Argentina at this particular time. We remember what God said to his people in a moment of great anguish: ‘This war is not yours, but God’s’: defend us, then, in this war of God. (opposition to same-sex “marriage” in Argentina, as reported by Edward Pentin, “Cardinal Bergoglio Hits Out at Same-Sex Marriage”, National Catholic Register, 7-8-10)

2) Report: Pope Excommunicates Priest for Supporting Gay Marriage, Female Priest (Dr. Susan Berry, Breitbart, 9-24-13)

The Pope is “shocked” by Malta’s Civil Unions Bill, which will allow gay couples to adopt children, Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna has told The Sunday Times of Malta.

Defending his decision to use his Christmas homily to reiterate that a family had to be built around a man and a woman, Mgr Scicluna said he had aired these concerns with Pope Francis when he met him on December 12.

“We discussed many aspects…and when I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [the right for gay couples to adopt] he encouraged me to speak out,” Bishop Scicluna said. (Ariadne Massa,“Pope shocked by same-sex adoptions legislation”, Times of Malta, 12-29-13)

4) [T]he family is hit, that the family is knocked and that the family is debased.… Can everything be called a family? How … much relativism there is in the concept of the Sacrament of Marriage! . . . What they are proposing is not marriage, it is an association, but it is not marriage! It is necessary to say things very clearly and we must say this! . . . [he condemned] new forms, totally destructive [of marriage]. . . . family is a family . . . [an] anthropological fact [that] can’t be qualified by ideological notions. (reported by Paul Kengor, “Pope Francis Shocks Liberals on Same-Sex ‘Marriage'”, Crisis Magazine, 1-23-15)

In an address to more than 1,000 Filipino families in Manila on Jan. 16, Pope Francis decried the “new ideological colonization that tries to destroy the family.”

The Pope also warned against increasing efforts “to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life.”

The Holy Father made similar statements in defense of marriage earlier in the day, as he said Mass in Manila’s cathedral: “Proclaim the beauty and truth of the Christian message to a society which is tempted by confusing presentations of sexuality, marriage and the family.”

He then warned the faithful against “powerful forces which threaten to disfigure God’s plan for creation and betray the very values which have inspired and shaped all that is best in your culture.” (Ann Schneible,“Gay marriage is ‘ideological colonization,’ says Vatican spokesman”, Catholic News Agency, 1-16-15)

6) Junno Arocho Esteves, “Pope Francis: Removal of Differences Between Man and Woman Is the Problem, Not the Solution”, Zenit, 4-15-15)

7) I greet the pilgrims from Slovakia and, through them, I wish to express my appreciation to the entire Slovak church, encouraging everyone to continue their efforts in defense of the family, the vital cell of society. (cited in J. Lester Feder, “Pope Endorses Referendum Denying Marriage And Adoption Rights To Same-Sex Couples”, BuzzFeed News, 2-4-15, referring to a referendum in Slovakia)

8) I wish to encourage all Slovenians, especially those in public capacity, to preserve the family as the basic unit of society. (cited in Robert Shine, “Slovenia Rejects Marriage Equality with Pope Francis’ Blessing”, New Ways Ministry, 12-22-15)

9) You, Irina, mentioned a great enemy to marriage today: the theory of gender. Today there is a world war to destroy marriage. Today there are ideological colonisations which destroy, not with weapons, but with ideas. Therefore, there is a need to defend ourselves from ideological colonisations. (Address, 10-1-16)

10)

Pope Francis’ new document on love in the family is welcome particularly for its steadfast adherence to Church teaching on homosexual acts and relationships, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said.

“There’s another point in which (Pope Francis) is very firm: speaking about gay couples or homosexual couples, he insists very clearly that only the union between a man and woman, open to new life, by principle, can be called a marriage,” the cardinal told CNA April 8 during an interview shortly after leading the press conference presenting Amoris Laetitia at the Vatican.

“And I’m very happy that he did clarify this, because the other situations can be partnerships, relationships, but it’s certainly not a marriage.” (“Cardinal Schönborn praises ‘Amoris Laetitia’ stance on gay marriage”, Catholic News Agency, 4-8-16)

11) 52. No one can think that the weakening of the family as that natural society founded on marriage will prove beneficial to society as a whole. The contrary is true: it poses a threat to the mature growth of individuals, the cultivation of community values and the moral progress of cities and countries. There is a failure to realize that only the exclusive and indissoluble union between a man and a woman has a plenary role to play in society as a stable commitment that bears fruit in new life. We need to acknowledge the great variety of family situations that can offer a certain stability, but de facto or same-sex unions, for example, may not simply be equated with marriage. No union that is temporary or closed to the transmission of life can ensure the future of society . . .

56. Yet another challenge is posed by the various forms of an ideology of gender that “denies the difference and reciprocity in nature of a man and a woman and envisages a society without sexual differences, thereby eliminating the anthropological basis of the family. This ideology leads to educational programmes and legislative enactments that promote a personal identity and emotional intimacy radically separated from the biological difference between male and female. Consequently, human identity becomes the choice of the individual, one which can also change over time”. It is a source of concern that some ideologies of this sort, which seek to respond to what are at times understandable aspirations, manage to assert themselves as absolute and unquestionable, even dictating how children should be raised.

121. Marriage is a precious sign, for “when a man and a woman celebrate the sacrament of marriage, God is, as it were, ‘mirrored’ in them; he impresses in them his own features and the indelible character of his love.

251. In discussing the dignity and mission of the family, the Synod Fathers observed that, “as for proposals to place unions between homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”. It is unacceptable “that local Churches should be subjected to pressure in this matter and that international bodies should make financial aid to poor countries dependent on the introduction of laws to establish ‘marriage’ between persons of the same sex”.

292. Christian marriage, as a reflection of the union between Christ and his Church, is fully realized in the union between a man and a woman who give themselves to each other in a free, faithful and exclusive love, who belong to each other until death and are open to the transmission of life, and are consecrated by the sacrament, which grants them the grace to become a domestic church and a leaven of new life for society. Some forms of union radically contradict this ideal, while others realize it in at least a partial and analogous way. The Synod Fathers stated that the Church does not disregard the constructive elements in those situations which do not yet or no longer correspond to her teaching on marriage. (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, 3-19-16)

12) Marriage is between a man and a woman. (“Transcript: Pope Francis’ March 5 interview with Corriere della Sera”, Catholic News Agency, 3-5-14)

13) 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. With this attitude, man commits a new sin, that against God the Creator, . . . (cited in Joshua J. McElwee, “Francis strongly criticizes gender theory, comparing it to nuclear arms”, National Catholic Reporter, 2-13-15)

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Any questions?

Pope Francis, Same-Sex Unions, & Chicken Little Mass Hysteria [10-22-20]

“Gay Unions”: Leftist & Reactionary Catholics vs. Pope & CDF [3-23-21]

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Summary: I collect 13 proofs that Pope Francis has always opposed same-sex “marriage” & radical gender theories as fundamentally incompatible with the Catholic understanding of sexuality & marriage.

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Liberal / Modernist Theology

Papacy & Infallibility

Sexuality and Gender Issues

Pope Francis & homosexual marriage

Pope Francis & same-sex couples

Pope Francis & same-sex marriage

sacred tradition

same-sex marriage

Theological Liberalism

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