The homosexuality seen from the point of view of the Catholic magisterium

Extract from the text of the theologian Peter Schallenberg* contained in the Catholic essay "Mit dem segen der Kircher? Gleichgeschlechtliche Partnerschaft im Frakus der Pastoral"(With the blessing of the Church? Homosexual unions with a view to pastoral care), edited by Stephan Loos - Michael Reitemeyer - Georg Trentin, publisher Herder (Germany), 2019, pp. 71-85, freely translated by Antonio De Caro

Rousseau and Nietzsche believed in an original condition of happiness, in which man followed his impulses and lived in accordance with nature. Civilization, morality and religion (Jewish, Christian ...) would then have spoiled this auroral condition of innocence, with an evolution that does not equate to progress but a submission. Already Agostino was not alien from this conception, because of the idea of ​​"original sin", of the fall from a primary bliss.

According to the biblical vision, however, the sexuality of the progenitors represents the crowning of creation, not an evil that is added to it.

The sexual difference and the need for completion is the image of the relational essence of God and therefore becomes an ethical task of human beings (p. 72). "Male and female he created them"It should be understood in the sense that the human creature to complete itself must overcome the limits of selfishness and must transcend itself into the relationship with the other.

Ethics, therefore, derives from a rational reflection - and therefore cultural - on nature: this reflection investigates the purpose of nature, therefore on the will of God. In the way of formed and concrete of human nature, what corresponds to the Plan of God? What is the metaphysics of creation?

The Gospels express themselves little and in a very reserved way on sexuality. Rather, they focus on the essence and purpose of men: living in love, as a response to the love of God who creates and saves.

In Matteo 19, 6 Jesus affirms that the law (for example, on repudiation) was given for the harshness of the human heart: from this passage the interpreters have deduced the truth of the original and hereditary sin, so the humanity after the fall is marked by evil and oriented towards it.

In Luke 20, 34 SS. Jesus affirms that after the resurrection sexuality will no longer be there: in the eschatological dimension, the fullness of life will depend only on communion with God. Therefore, marriage and sexuality would be ways to respond, in this life and in this finished time, to the eternal love of God.

The Fathers of the Church, following Paolo's suggestions, considered sexual passion as incompatible with the moral vocation and the salvation of man. Sex life would be necessary, but in the least possible measure: it must be traced back to the moral picture of marriage and its three purposes, that is, reproduction, loyalty and liberation from desire as a passion. Love must be lived as frui and not as utti (see August, civ. Of 14.28): the other must therefore be considered not as a selfish good, but as a being that refers to God, which has its dignity and cannot be reduced to the subject to satisfy personal instincts.

According to Tommaso d'Aquino and the Council Vatican II, marriage has a purpose concerning the human being as a living being; a purpose that concerns him as a human being; And one who concerns his relationship with God. Effectiveness and sexuality can be remedied and transformed if they become an expression of the gift of self. Love is therefore called to be not only effecttivus, but also Expressivus: expression of dedication and loyalty. Physical intimacy would be a lie if it was not a sign and the result of personal intimacy.

The purpose of the human person, in Christian perspective, is God. And this God is love. So the purpose of the human person is love, and the sense of earthly life is to learn this love for God through oblative love towards others. Sexuality, especially in marriage, expresses this oblative love in a privileged way and in a personal relationship. This is the sense of chastity (p. 76), that is, the integration of sexuality into the person and therefore the inner unity of the human being in its bodily and spiritual dimension. Sexuality becomes really human when it represents a relationship from person to person. It is an ideal to be gradually achieved: it must be applied and adapted to the concrete person and to his living conditions (p. 77).

The evaluation of homosexuality according to Catholic morality counted the sodomy between capital crimes; There was no consideration for the person, the disposition and the context. In the 1993 catechism, the magisterium speaks of a deeply rooted tendency, avoiding taking a position for the natural or cultural origin of the phenomenon. On the part of the Magisterium it would obviously be better to confront scientific theories rather than remain in a unleashed terminology.

One of the problems would be that homosexual acts would be unable to generate life. How come this objection is not raised in the case of sterile or no longer fertile couples? Who and through which criteria distinguishes between good nature and bad nature? And how do you establish that in homosexual relationships do not exist the complementarity, integration and unity of people?

If biblical statements are not sufficient, which scientific and psychological statements are referred to? Should the capacity of love not have a higher moral value than the modalities of sexual intercourse (p. 80)?

Rather, the magisterium should indicate which type of physical intimacy corresponds to the message "God is love" and therefore can represent a path of sanctification. Instead, the magisterium remains tied to a only biological and materialistic plan.

* Peter Schallenberg, born in 1963, is a professor of moral and ethical theological theological faculty of Paderborn, director of the Katholischen Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zentralstelle (Ksz, Catholic Catholic Office of the Social Sciences) of Monchengladbach and consultant of the Dicastery for the full development of man.

Original text: Homosexualität aus sicht des katholischen lehramtes