Saying it was the first time he had done so in his 51 1/42-year tenure, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago used the pulpit Sunday to dispute a newspaper headline that suggested Pope John Paul II had launched a “global campaign” against gays by asking politicians to oppose same-sex marriages.
“I stand here to defend our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, against a false accusation made on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times last Friday,” George told a standing-room-only crowd in Holy Name Cathedral.
The controversy of same-sex marriages and George’s extraordinary response to a headline reflects the Roman Catholic Church’s desire to both fiercely defend its position that marriage is only possible between a man and woman and to treat homosexuals with “respect and compassion.”
In a statement, Sun-Times Editor in Chief Michael Cooke made no apologies for the headline: “Pope Launches Global Campaign vs. Gays. Vatican: Catholic pols have ‘moral duty’ to oppose homosexual rights.”
“Read in its entirety, we believe the headline accurately reflects the church’s view on same-sex marriage and the role the church requires Catholic politicians to play in this issue,” the statement said. “The Sun-Times is not anti-Catholic. We meant no disrespect to the Holy Father or the church.”
With an international debate simmering over same-sex unions, George said this is an important time for church leaders to be vocal on the issue.
“The Vatican is looking at the whole world,” George later told reporters outside St. Felicitas Catholic Church on the South Side. “Canada is obviously at a turning point on all of this … so I think [church leaders] decided to speak to an issue that isn’t just an American issue.”
In a strongly worded text released Thursday, the Vatican admonished Catholic politicians to oppose legal recognition of homosexual unions and called legislative votes on laws favoring such marriages “gravely immoral.” A day earlier, President Bush declared his opposition to homosexual marriages and said he had directed White House lawyers to explore ways to write into law his belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.
The cardinal said he decided to publicly challenge the Sun-Times because “a line was crossed” and “Chicago Catholics cannot ignore what has happened.” He said he has written a letter of apology to the pope.
