The Catholic Church has been placing itself in a position in which its doctrinal teaching is being placed under a microscope, Father Gerald Murray, canon lawyer in the Archdiocese of New York, said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"The church is being accused of being behind the times and being anachronistic," Murray told "Newsline," in comments as a major Vatican gathering, the Synod on Synodality, was holding its second of two sessions.
The gathering, formally known as the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is a two-part conference including 368 voting delegates and dozens of other participants from six continents.
Its discussions are expected to make breaks with traditional Catholic teaching, including on ordaining women and concerning same-sex marriage.
"These critiques are a reflection of a progressivist agenda, which says we have to have women ordained as priests, precisely because otherwise the world will consider us to be backward," Murray said. "Well, Christ did not ordain any women priests. He ordained the 12 apostles, and they ordained other men, and then down to our own time, only men have been ordained. This is the will of Christ."
There is also a push to legitimize homosexuality in the church, he said, including last year when Pope Francis approved the blessing of same-sex couples last year.
"That push keeps going because there are a lot of people who do not accept Christian anthropology, meaning that we look at the way God made man and woman and say, man and woman are made for each other, and that this is how the human race continues."
But there are people who reject that, and say that "sex is about whatever you want it to be," said Murray.
As a result, Murray said he is "apprehensive that these topics are being discussed because they shouldn't be discussed. These are topics where we already know what the truth is."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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