In interpreting Pope Francis' remarks
on civil unions for gay couples, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York
said that the pope is simply questioning the appeal of such
arrangements.
Last week, Pope
Francis suggested civil unions for gay couples might be acceptable to
the church.
“Do you imagine the church might open
the way to accepting civil unions?” Meet the Press' David
Gregory asked.
“If I saw the reports accurately, he
didn't come right out and say he was for them,” Dolan
answered. “Once again, in an extraordinarily sincere, open,
nuanced way, he said, ' I know that some people in some states have
chosen this. We need to think about that and look into it and see
the reasons that have driven them.'”
“It wasn't as if he came out and
approved them. But in a sensitivity that has won the heart of the
world, he said, 'Rather than quickly condemn them, let's see if,
let's just ask the questions as to why that has appealed to certain
people.'”
(Related: Cardinal
Timothy Dolan on Michael Sam's coming out gay: Good for him.)
When asked if civil unions would make
him “uncomfortable,” Dolan answered “it would, in a way”
because marriage is “not something that's just a religious,
sacramental concern.”
Marriage is “also the building block
of society and culture. So it belongs to culture. And if we water
down that sacred meaning of marriage in any way, I worry that not
only the church would suffer, I worry that culture and society would
[suffer].”
Dolan was a leading opponent of New
York's gay marriage law, calling it “Orwellian social engineering.”
(Related: Timothy
Dolan calls gay marriage “Orwellian social engineering.”)