Cardinal George Pell has called for the Vatican’s doctrine office to intervene and reprimand two leading European Catholic churchmen who called for changes in Catholic teaching on sexuality and homosexuality.
Pell, who was convicted and then acquitted of sex abuse charges in his native Australia, said he understood the secular pressures in Germany were forcing debate about homosexuality and other hot-button issues in the church. But in an interview with KTV, the German Catholic television agency, Pell said the church cannot follow “the changing dictats of contemporary secular culture” and must stay true to its faith.
Pell was referring to recent comments about sexuality by Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, the president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, and the head of the German bishops’ conference that have arisen as part of the German Church’s “synodal path” of debate and dialogue with the laity.
Hollerich has said he believes the current church teaching on homosexuality is “no longer correct,” and not based on science. In an interview with the German news agency KNA, he called for a “fundamental revision of the doctrine,” noting that Francis’ own outreach to gays could pave the way for a change.
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