What happened?
According to multiple news reports, Pope Francis told a gay Chilean man that God “Juan Carlos, I don’t care about you being gay. God made you that way and loves you as you are and I don’t mind. The pope loves you as you are…” To no one’s surprise, this has gotten a lot of attention. Some people are cheering it, some are worried sick, and a good many are probably a just confused.
What’s the problem?
The Catholic Church has always taught that homosexual acts (and, by extension, same-sex unions) are always sinful. But, if God “made you that way,” if God purposely gave you same-sex attraction, then its seems a little cruel and contradictory to say you can’t act on the desires he gave you. It’s not perfectly clear whether this man fully embraces the gay lifestyle, but that’s almost besides the point. I say “almost,” because it would be helpful to know whether or not this man took the Pope’s comments as justification for that lifestyle or not. It’s quite possible that both Juan Carlos and Pope Francis don’t see a contradiction in saying both “gay sex is sinful” and “God made you that way.” What we do know is that Pope Francis has clearly condemned gay unions and gay sex as sinful, even though he has also focused more on mercy and accompaniment. Regardless, even if the Pope doesn’t see the connection, there is a logical connection between those two statements.
What this doesn’t mean
That the Church is changing this ancient teaching. We already know that Pope Francis himself doesn’t want to change that teaching. It’s important to say this and even repeat it because people will try to interpret his comments in that light. Even more importantly, it doesn’t mean that the Church officially believes God deliberately makes gay people gay. In other words, it doesn’t mean that Catholics believe in a cruel God who deliberately gives people desires that he then forbids them to follow. That would make God seem like a bully or a torturer. That is not the God we believe in.
What can we say about this then?
Well, there are two things we can say. First, Pope Francis is notoriously loose with his words. He often speaks off the cuff, uses hyperbole and moves suddenly between different styles of speaking. Especially in a pastoral setting, in a place where he is comforting another person, he is more interested in the immediate impact of his words on that individual than he is about the literal interpretation of those words on a global scale. Indeed, this comment was made in a private conversation to a man who was deeply in anguish and who had felt personally insulted by Pope Francis himself. These were words of emotional comfort, not doctrinal teaching.
And don’t forget about Scripture
Pope Francis is not alone in his way of talking about what God “does” and how he “makes” things. Scripture often ascribes emotions and mind-changing to God even though it also says that God does not change. The Church’s teaching holds that God is not moved by emotions, that he is unchanging, and that he never positively does evil. But we have to grapple with the fact that the Bible seems to say that he does all of those things at one time or another.
A helpful way to understand this is to look at two parts of the bible that describe the same events, but in different terms. There is that odd scene in the Old Testament when David decides to have a census in Israel and then gets punished for it. His sin is trying to take power into his own hands and so undermine the trust in God he is supposed to have. But what matters in this case is that we can see these events both in 2 Samuel 24 and in 1 Chronicles 21:
2 Samuel 24:1
“Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”1 Chronicles 21:1
“Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel.”
Same Scripture, same religion (Judaism), and same events, but two very different explanations of what caused it to happen. This is a prime example of developing a deeper understanding over time. 2 Samuel is much older than 1 Chronicles, so the description in 1 Chronicles has a deeper and more precise understanding. Still, we nonetheless believe that 2 Samuel continues to be inspired and inerrant – it is still Scripture.
So, does God do evil?
Not exactly. We can speak about God “doing” something in two ways. Most people assume we mean that he directly and deliberately chooses to make something. But, there is also the fact that God’s providence – his plan – also allows bad things to happen so that he can pull some greater good out of it. Sometimes, when we talk about God allowing evil, we skip the precise language and say it was part of God’s plan or that God did that evil thing. In 2 Samuel, we read about God’s “anger” and it says that he “incited David” to do a sin. This is an indirect way of saying that God removed his protection and let David fall into temptation (think of the Our Father – “lead us not into temptation”) in order to humble him and remind Israel of their need for his protection. 1 Chronicles gives us the more precise explanation that the Devil tempted David, and we can mean that in a very literal way. In other words, God allowed the devil to do evil because he had a plan for some greater good.
So, back to the point
We can say that God “makes” people with certain difficulties because He is ultimately master of the universe and everything falls under His plan. We can say that God “makes” a person have a mental disorder because His providence allows it to happen but His grace provides a way for that person and other who know them to grow in holiness by responding with love. We can say that God “makes” a person “gay” because he allows it to happen all the while providing grace and truth enough for that person to practice chastity and so grow in holiness (in addition to giving witness to God’s power). We are fallen beings and God lets us be born with all kinds of imperfections. But, he always loves us and has a plan for us to love him back.
The uptake from that is that it is very comforting to hear, from the Pope, that your particular struggle and temptations are not a sign of God’s rejection. It is comforting to know that, in a sense, you are no different than anyone else because we are all “made” with sinful desires, but that none of them are more powerful than God. It is comforting to know that God’s providence can account for everything about you and your life. It is also comforting to know that God loves us the way we are, sinful desires and all, because He loves us period.
But, no, God does not intentionally and personally make a person want something that he then tells them they can’t have. That would be cruel and God is not cruel.