Father Martin Smiles at the Sin of Homosexuality and Pope Francis Thanks Him

Fr. James Martin, S.J., with his cheerful face, a smile on his lips, smooth and buttery voice, is perhaps the homosexual movement’s leading “theologian” and propagandist.

When referring to “L.G.B.T. people” and the “L.G.B.T. community” in his writings and presentations, he does not clarify whether he is speaking of people afflicted with same-sex attraction but resist temptation with the help of grace or those who habitually fall into the sin against nature.¹

An Award From the Pro-homosexual New Ways Ministry

However, the context of his words and attitudes and the way homosexual activists welcome them strongly support the notion that he means those who fall into the sin of homosexualism. The title of his book on the homosexual movement is suggestive: Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the L.G.B.T. Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.

The L.G.B.T. acronym applies to the homosexual movement—a group of activists who not only practice the vice against nature but seek to impose on society the acceptance of their unnatural practices and way of life as normal and even virtuous.

In his book, Father Martin proposes eliminating the qualification of same-sex attraction as “objectively disordered” from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.²

The underlying thought is that if same-sex attraction is not disordered but normal and according to nature, then sexual relations between two people of the same sex must also be normal and natural. Therefore, one must see homosexualism as normal and good.

Father Martin’s book is a development of a lecture he gave thanking the pro-homosexual New Ways Ministry for giving him their “Bridge Building Award.”³ It is important to recall that Catholic bishops have condemned New Ways Ministry for its doctrinal errors.⁴

“What’s the Terrible Thing” About Kissing Your Homosexual Partner at Mass?

That Father Martin has mainly in mind those who indulge in homosexual relations when he speaks of “L.G.B.T. people” and “L.G.B.T. community” is also suggested by his answers to a homosexual journalist.

On August 29, 2017, journalist Brandon Ambrosino, a theology graduate from Villanova University, interviewed Fr. James Martin at the same university. During their conversation, he told Father Martin he was a homosexual, went to Mass with his partner, and regretted not being able to kiss and hug him at the “sign of peace,” as heterosexual couples do.

Father Martin answered: “I hope in ten years you will be able to kiss your partner or soon to be your husband. Why not? What’s the terrible thing?”⁵

“The terrible thing” is for a priest to show his support for a public expression of homosexuality in the church, during Mass, and, to boot, to endorse same-sex “marriage.”

“The terrible thing” is sin, an offense against God, a revolt against His Law, the loss of sanctifying grace, and the danger of eternal damnation.

Father Martin and Sister Gramick’s “Theology”

Father Martin upholds such moral absurdities based on a “theology” drawn from the modernist heresy.

For modernists, “faith, which is the basis and the foundation of all religion, consists in a sentiment which originates from a need of the divine.”⁶ Therefore, Religion and faith are not based on divine revelation. It all depends on the person. It is up to people to decide what to believe in and how to act. The Magisterium should not tell them this. Consequently, dogma and moral norms only become normative when accepted by the people.

Father Martin gave this explanation in the same interview at Villanova University. For example, he said “L.G.B.T. people” accept the dogma of Assumption. However, the “L.G.B.T. community” does not accept the Church’s command that homosexuals practice chastity and, therefore, the norm is not binding. “For a teaching to be really authoritative, it is expected that it will be received by the people of God, by the faithful,” Father Martin states. He goes on to say, “From what I can tell in the L.G.B.T. community, the teaching that L.G.B.T. people must be celibate their entire lives, not just, you know, before marriage as it is for most people, but their entire lives has not been received . . . . The teaching, therefore, has not been received by the community to which it was largely directed.”⁷

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Father Martin is saying that homosexuals need not keep chastity because they have not “received” it, i.e., they “do not accept” this precept of God’s Law as taught by the Magisterium of the Church.⁸

That is also Sr. Jeannine Gramick’s “theology.” Like Father Martin, she is linked to the homosexual movement and is a co-founder of the heretical New Ways Ministry. She states: “The faith must come from the people, and so if there are people within the Catholic community . . . and theologians who believe that the traditional sexual ethics needs to change, we need to raise our voices and say that. We need to get other people to come on board to understand that. . . . We have to change people’s attitudes.”⁹

However, according to Scripture and Church Tradition, dogma and morals cannot be modified or adapted to people’s feelings, passions, and interests.

God Is Love. That Means One Can Sin?

Like many of his counterparts, Father Martin suggests that, God being Love (1 John 4:8), He loves the sinner regardless if he violates the commandments of His Eternal Law. But this argument leads to the absurd and contradictory statement that the Creator’s love can run counter to His Wisdom because, as Saint Thomas teaches, “the eternal law is nothing else than the type of Divine Wisdom, as directing all actions and movements.”¹⁰

On the contrary, although God loves man as His creature, He hates sin—the offense done to His Infinite Majesty. The Angelic Doctor quotes the Psalmist, “Thou hates all the workers of iniquity” (5:7), and explains that God loves the good existing in His rational creatures, but when they sin, “under this aspect, they are hated by Him.”¹¹

The way someone lives determines their eternal destiny, for, as the same Doctor says, “according to Divine justice, an eternal reward is due to temporal merit: ‘everyone who sees the Son and believes in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day’ (John 6:40). Therefore according to Divine justice, an everlasting punishment is due to temporal guilt.”¹²

Nevertheless, Saint Thomas states that “[e]ven in the damnation of the reprobate mercy is seen, which, though it does not totally remit, yet somewhat alleviates, in punishing short of what is deserved.”¹³

“L.G.B.T. Catholics Bring Unique Gifts to the Church”

Father Martin does not practice true charity toward sinners, which consists in alerting them to their evil and trying to return them to the path of virtue. Instead, he considers that, in their state of revolt against the Law of God, “L.G.B.T. people” are a gift for the Church.

In his book, Building a Bridge, he writes: “L.G.B.T. Catholics bring unique gifts to the church—both as individuals and as a community. These gifts build up the church in special ways, as St. Paul wrote when he compared the People of God to a human body (1 Cor. 12:12–27).”¹⁴

Supposedly, promoters of sin would enrich the Church. That is an absurd statement. The truth is that only those in the state of grace are living members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Whoever is in mortal sin is a dead member (see John 15:6), and those who adhere to heresies cast themselves out of the Church of their own accord (Titus 3:10–11).

Genuine Compassion Stems From Charity

True compassion stems from charity. Now the object of this virtue is God, whose love extends to creatures. Hence the virtue of compassion seeks to bring God to the one who suffers and make him participate in God’s infinite love.

Saint Augustine has this beautiful sentence: “‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Now you love yourself suitably when you love God better than yourself. What, then, you aim at in yourself, you must aim at in your neighbor, namely, that he may love God with a perfect affection.”¹⁵

Thus, we should commiserate with another’s sufferings; we must love our neighbor, but always for the love of God.

The Film on Father Martin

Forsaking God’s wisdom, Father Martin has embraced the “wisdom of this world,” which “is foolishness with God” (1 Cor. 3:19). “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 1:16).

That is why Father Martin enjoys the support of the world and of those who love it (see John 15:19). He has just been the object of a documentary on his support of the homosexual movement. Like his book, the movie is titled Building a Bridge.¹⁶

The executive producer of propaganda film is Martin Scorsese, notorious for his anti-Catholic movies. In 1988, he directed the blasphemous movie The Last Temptation of Christ, adapted from Nikos Kazantzakis’ anti-Christian novel of the same name.

“The film depicts the life of Jesus Christ and his struggle with various forms of temptation, including fear, doubt, depression, reluctance and lust. The book and the film depict Christ being tempted by imagining himself engaged in sexual activities, which has caused outrage from some Christians.”¹⁷

The TFP promoted protests against this abomination when it was first released.

In 2016, assisted by Father Martin, Scorsese also produced the movie Silence, in which a Jesuit allegedly apostatizes from the Faith.¹⁸

Father Martin Smiles at Sin

Throughout, the documentary shows Father Martin smiling. Spectators see him relaxed and smiling even when faced with the tragic state of sin. The movie could even be titled “Fr. Martin’s Smile.”

For example, when participating in his award ceremony by the New Ways Ministry homosexual movement, he recounted his visit to a family with three teenage children without mentioning any moral reservations. One teenager was homosexual, another transgender, and the third bisexual. He points out that their mother told him she loved all three. The film features Father Martin’s encounter with the family (0:41:00–0:46:00). In another scene, the Jesuit visits another family in which the boy declares himself a homosexual (1:07.22–1:11:51).

He has not a single word about the need to turn away from sin, return to God, and fight for one’s salvation and sanctification with the help of grace. Just that friendly and disarming smile.

“A Contrite and Humbled Heart, O God, Thou Wilt Not Despise”

There is no sin that God will not pardon when there is serious repentance. The Psalmist says, “A contrite and humbled heart, o God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 50:19).

Helped by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, one can say with Saint Paul, “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.” (Phil. 4:13).

To do a genuine apostolate means showing someone the evil of sin and how it diverts him from his true purpose—to love God above all things. It is to lead the sinner to a change of heart, make an earnest sacramental confession, and help him persevere in virtue.

That is not what you see in the film or in Father Martin’s writings and actions.

Father Martin and Pope Francis

The film reports that “three months after the Pride Mass [in which he participated], Fr. Martin had a private audience with Pope Francis” and felt encouraged by it (1:32:03).

The film also informs: “In June 2021, Pope Francis wrote him a letter stating ‘I pray that you continue in this way being close, compassionate and with great tenderness” (1:34:03).

On May 5, 2022, Father Martin wrote Pope Francis informing him of his new web site Outreach: An L.G.B.T.Q. Catholic Resource, and asking three short questions. Pope Francis responded with a handwritten letter a mere three days later, on May 8. Here are Father Martin’s questions and Pope Francis’s answers:

“Outreach: What would you say is the most important thing for L.G.B.T. people to know about God?

“Pope Francis: God is Father and he does not disown any of his children. And ‘the style’ of God is ‘closeness, mercy and tenderness.’ Along this path you will find God.

“Outreach: What would you like L.G.B.T. people to know about the church?

“Pope Francis: I would like for them to read the book of the Acts of the Apostles. There they will find the image of the living church.

FREE READ: Defending a Higher Law: Why We Must Resist Same Sex “Marriage” and the Homosexual Movement

“Outreach: What do you say to an L.G.B.T. Catholic who has experienced rejection from the church?

“Pope Francis: I would have them recognize it not as ‘the rejection of the church,’ but instead of ‘people in the church.’ The church is a mother and calls together all her children. Take for example the parable of those invited to the feast: ‘the just, the sinners, the rich and the poor, etc.’ [Matthew 22:1-15; Luke 14:15-24]. A ‘selective’ church, one of ‘pure blood,’ is not Holy Mother Church, but rather a sect.”

Pope Francis closes affectionately:

“Thank you for everything you do. I pray for you, please do so for me.

May Jesus bless you and may the Holy Virgin guard you.

Fraternally,

Francis”¹⁹

Not a single word of abandonment and repentance of sin was said. . .

The Holy Church of God Is Pure

We must not be discouraged amid the terrible storm ravaging the Church and the betrayal of many who should be models of virtue. Our Lord Jesus Christ is with Her until the end of time (see Matt. 28:20).

Let us bear in mind Saint Paul’s beautiful words: “Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for it: That he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish” (Eph. 5:24–27).

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Fr. James Martin photo attribution:  Kerry Weber.  Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA 4.0). Minor adjustments of lighting and sharpness were made.