Pope Francis is something of an enigma.

He has been a strong advocate for the poor and the oppressed…

and for climate change…

but he hasn’t been at all pro-active in dealing with clerical paedophilia…

and he’s failed pretty dismally when it comes to women’s issues.

He has offered a more pastoral and caring face than his predecessor did…

but that’s not saying much.

But it’s his attitudes towards… 

and statements about… 

the LGBT+ community that are most puzzling.

Because they seem so contradictory.

Speaking to a journalist–– 

back in two-thousand and thirteen––

he declared…

“When God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’…

In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. 

It is necessary to accompany them with mercy”.

But, a little while after that interview…

in a homily during his visit to the Philippines…

he warned against “confusing presentations of sexuality, marriage and the family”.

And yet, upon his return to Europe…

he met privately with a transgender man… 

who had been rejected by his parish in Spain.

But shortly after…

in a public address ahead of a referendum vote in Slovakia… 

he offered support for laws that would ban same-sex marriage.

And yet, he supported same-sex civil unions when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Now, in a new documentary film, he says:

“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it”.

And yet, in a series of interviews for a Catholic publication, he proclaimed that there was “no room” for “persons with this rooted tendency” in the Catholic Church.

In his statements about…

and his attitudes towards…

the LGBT+ community…

there are inconsistencies or even outright contradictions.

It may be that Francis has taken to heart a saying––

often attributed to Saint Cyprian––

that “Pastoral necessity takes precedence over theological integrity”.

He seems to reserve his more rigid theological pronouncements… 

for occasions when he’s speaking to clergy;

and presents his more pastoral side when he’s speaking to people at the centre of an “issue”…

or when he’s speaking to those outside the church––

such as the media.

And yet… 

there’s something about that pastoral-necessity-theological-integrity dictum that bothers me.

And I think it centres around that word, “integrity”.

It’s one thing, in a sense, to tell the truth, but not the whole truth…

in order to protect someone.

Most of us do that at one time or another––

especially when dealing with young children.

When I was a lecturer in theology…

it was common to do that with beginning students––

especially those who came from a fairly literal, fundamentalist tradition.

Over time, you would expose them to the full breadth of scholarly opinion…

but it had to be done slowly and gradually…

gently questioning their assumptions…

so that they would be able to entertain ideas that they would otherwise simply reject out of hand.

But it’s another thing altogether…

to think one thing… 

and to say or do something that’s contrary to that.

Even if done for, seemingly, noble reasons…

surely, it displays a woeful lack of personal integrity.

If, in your heart of hearts…

you believe that homosexual people are intrinsically “disordered” and “damaged”…

even sinful…

but you don’t want to say that to their face…

because it wouldn’t be very “pastoral”…

then that’s showing neither honesty nor integrity…

nor is it, ultimately, genuinely pastoral.

It’s simply falling into the old “end justifying the means” trap.

More than that, it’s a shonky pretence.

It’s the attitude of the stereotypically slick and sleazy used car salesman.

It’s also the attitude of the populist politician…

desperately trying to please everyone…

making outlandish promises…

willing to say one thing to one person and something else to another…

simply in an effort to secure their vote.

And, unfortunately, it’s an attitude that has been all too common within the Church––

and not just as it would seem with Pope Francis.

We have seen it many a time with the Church’s equivalent of used car salesmen––

the three-piece suited tele-evangelist…

or, perhaps, these days…

the designer-jeaned, designer-stubbled megachurch pastor––

who believes that it’s okay to gloss up the presentation;

pretend that you have the solution to all of the problems that people face;

appear to offer what people want;

and do whatever it takes to get people in––

in order to “save their souls”.

And, for many of them, in so doing…

they probably believe that they are simply following Paul’s own strategy…

which he outlines in our reading this morning:

“I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some”.

Here, it seems, is scriptural endorsement for ecclesiastical snake-oil salesmanship.

Be whoever you need to be…

say whatever you need to say…

do whatever you need to do…

in order to bring people to faith.

 

But, I don’t think that’s what Paul is actually saying here.

 

He’s not speaking about some manipulative, missional, marketing strategy.

He’s not speaking of some pretence or put on.

Rather, because of his personal and theological integrity…

because he knows what is central to his faith––

namely, the impartial… 

unconditional…

inexhaustible…

love of God…

made known to us in Jesus Christ––

he is not bound by any particular cultural or religious or contingent expression of that.

Paul wants to be able to meet people where they are at…

to understand them and their needs… 

genuinely.

He doesn’t want simply to offer pat answers…

or to try to create a problem for which he alone has a “solution”—

something that the Church has been so good at doing through the years.

Paul is open and willing…

not just to accept their particular traditions…

but to respect and embrace those traditions while he is with them…

because…

while they may be essential for others…

for him, they are a periphery to the heart of the Gospel…

and he doesn’t want his personal preferences and traditions to become a barrier.

And, let’s face it…

that’s something that we’re not good at doing in the church today…

is it?

So often what keeps the various branches and streams of the church apart are traditions…

customs…

and practices…

that are not of the core or essence of the Christian faith;

and we’re not good at understanding or respecting those traditions…

let alone learning from them.

 

But, more than that…

Paul is not speaking here about some manipulative, missional, marketing strategy…

or some pretence or put on.

Rather, he speaks of becoming.

Faith, for Paul, is always and essentially incarnational.

Faith, for Paul, is not a matter of belief…

but a matter of being.

It’s who we are.

It’s what shapes and sustains us.

It’s what guides and grows us.

It’s what informs and inspires us.

A faith that is not lived––

genuinely…

compassionately…

lovingly…

with integrity…

such that others are able to see Christ in us––

is no faith at all.

Thus, as another Francis–– 

Saint Francis of Assisi––

once said:

“Preach the Gospel at all times and, when necessary, use words”.