It only took one day Pope Francisco in responding to the letter that five conservative cardinals sent him facing the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which begins tomorrow, Wednesday, October 4, in the Vatican.

These five clerics (the German Walter Brandmüller, the American Raymond Leo Burke, the Mexican Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, the Guinean Robert Sarah and the Chinese Joseph Zen Ze-kiun) asked him to clarify his position. about whether he was really willing to give his blessing to unions between same-sex couples. The clerics expressed their concern that this was one of the topics to be discussed at the meeting and, even more so, that the Argentine was open to doing so.

Bergoglio, in his own handwriting and in Spanish (something he does not usually do), answered them in detail. An answer that The Vatican has made public through its websiteand in which you can read how the Pontiff argues his position.

Francis maintains that only the sacramental union of a man and a woman open to begetting children can be called marriage but that, despite this, “pastoral charity” cannot be lost. And, from here, he explains: “In dealing with other people we must not lose pastoral charity, which must permeate all our decisions and attitudes. “The defense of objective truth is not the only expression of that charity, which is also made of kindness, patience, tenderness, and encouragement.”

Furthermore, he adds: “Although there are situations that from an objective point of view are not morally acceptable, the same pastoral charity requires us not to simply treat other people as “sinners” whose guilt or responsibility may be attenuated by various factors that influence in subjective imputability”.

In this way, the Pope reaches the conclusion in his argument that “pastoral prudence You must properly discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or several people, that do not convey a wrong conception of marriage. Because when you ask for a blessing you are expressing a request for help from God, a prayer to be able to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us live better.”

Coup

Many analysts see in the movement of the five cardinals an attempt to coup d’état against the Church that Bergoglio promulgates. Because this is not the first open gesture that he has had during his pontificate with the LGTBI community. A few years ago he said that if God did not judge, who was he to judge them, and that although homosexuality is a sin but it can never be “a crime.”

Furthermore, in recent months, he has held audiences with trans people, something that has never happened before.

This openness to the blessing of unions between people of the same sex is valued by LGTBI Christian associations such as something positive: “He has always had an attitude of openness. We are taking very small steps, but without a doubt this is a gesture,” he says Óscar Manuel Escolano, from CRISMHOM. For them, the goal is for the Church to recognize (just as it does with people of different genders) homosexual unions as a full-fledged marriage.

In any case, the step that Pope Francis is about to take tomorrow before the leadership of Catholicism It is a small step that, at the same time, can represent a great revolution in the foundations of the Catholic Church.