Pope Francis continues to elicit much strong reaction among orthodox Catholics and liberal Catholics, Protestants and Jews, agnostics and atheists, progressives and conservatives, collectivists and free marketers, tree huggers and polluters, cats and dogs, fish and birds, and everything in between. But one thing is increasingly certain: When it comes to the Church’s position on marriage, Francis has been solid. Sure, many on our side wished he had waded into Ireland’s referendum, using his immense popularity there to perhaps try to sway the gay-marriage vote, but, for whatever reason (wise or ill-advised), he did not.
And just when the world needs an encyclical on, say, natural-traditional-biblical marriage, we’re instead getting one on climate change. And yet, rest assured, the encyclical will be immediately followed by an international meeting on the family in Philadelphia, where this pontiff will surely affirm the Catholic position on male-female marriage—as he has done. So, for those who want papal fireworks on same-sex “marriage,” those sparks are probably—and inevitably—coming.
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