Ask a Priest – Why Are Homosexual Acts Sinful?

My friend asked me why homosexual acts are sinful. I gave answers based on both science and religion, but then my friend said, “If two people love each other, how can that be wrong?” Any ideas on what should be said here?

Answer:
Saying that love can justify anything is a very emotionally based ethical system. Love is a good thing, but it also needs to be rightly ordered. If we use this justification that love means it is OK to justify same-sex marriage then by that logic you would have to concede incest, polygamy and pedophilia could also be permitted, so long as the two, or more, people loved each other.

The then Cardinal Ratzinger, in his homily before the start of the conclave from which he would emerge as Pope, said that “a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceit from truth.”

He went on to say:

“Truth and love coincide in Christ. To the extent that we draw close to Christ, in our own lives too, truth and love are blended. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like “a clanging cymbal” (I Cor 13: 1).”

Therefore, love does not exist in a vacuum and it needs to be accompanied and guided by the truth about ourselves, the truth about human sexuality, and the moral truth about how we should act.

This question was posted in Xt3’s ‘Ask a Priest’ group. You can join the discussion by visiting the original thread – you must be logged into Xt3. Or, to see more Ask a Priest questions, click here.

Further Reading:

• Hot Topics – Xt3 Podcast: Episode 4 of Xt3’s ‘Hot Topics’ podcast series deals with homosexuality and the teachings of the Catholic Church, narrated by Bernard Toutounji of the Life, Marriage and Family Centre in Sydney.
• Xt3 Library – This link takes you to all the resources in the Xt3 Library that deal with this topic.