Skip to main content

It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex.” This is the essence of the responsum from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, published on March 15. “The Church” the document continues “recalls that God Himself never ceases to bless each of His pilgrim children in this world, because for Him we are more important to God than all of the sins that we can commit. But he does not and cannot bless sin: he blesses sinful man.

The document was a cold shower for those who believed and hoped for the Catholic Church to open up -even if slowly and gradually- toward sexual minorities. It has split the Church itself, as many prelates have already publicly declared they will not obey the Vatican’s decision.

trans accolti chiesa anglicanaStop the guards

The complaints are not just within the institution. In Switzerland, for example, Muriel Waeger, French-speaking director of the Lesbenorganisation Schweiz (Swiss Lesbian Organization) launched an appeal in the Lausanne newspaper Le Matin Dimanche: “The Church must become aware of the heavy consequences of its words to the homosexual believers: they can be the source of conversion therapy, rejection by families, and suicides.” For this reason, Lesbenorganisation Schweiz makes a shocking proposal: the withdraw of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, a group of mercenaries that since 1506 has defended the Pope and the Vatican.

According to the lesbian association, Switzerland is violating its own constitution, which establishes the principle of equality, by financing soldiers in the service of a state that instead discriminates and denies equal rights. The proposal would also be important to protect the 135 Swiss men that, according to Waeger, have been “sent” to the Vatican: “We are concerned about the members of the Guard. We know some of them are homosexuals. We cannot tolerate that these soldiers, who were trained in Switzerland, have to suffer discrimination by the country in which they are sent to serve.”

Impossible proposal

Will the Renaissance red, yellow, and blue uniforms delighting the eyes of many tourists and the hearts of many cardinals disappear? To say it is highly improbable is an understatement, mostly because the proposal is based on incorrect information. The Swiss Guard is a Holy See institution and does not depend on the Swiss Confederation, in any way: Bern does not send or finance anyone and therefore, even if it wanted to, it would have no means to dissolve or withdraw the army corps from the Vatican. We will need to find other ways to try to change the Catholic Church’s mind.

Pier Cesare Notaro
translation by Barbara Burgio
©2021 Il Grande Colibrì
images: Il Grande Colibrì / elaboration from Max Pixel (CC0)

Read also:
“The Pope Defends Gay Unions and Makes the Church Falter”
Switzerland: The New Eldorado for Conversion Therapies?

Leave a Reply