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<\/a><\/p>\nby THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D<\/p>\n
President Obama will apparently test just how far Pope Francis\u2019 notorious tolerance will go by inviting a rogue\u2019s gallery of people opposed to Catholic teaching<\/a>\u00a0to greet the pontiff at the White House during his visit next week.<\/h2>\nIn a stunning show of political indecorum<\/a>, Obama has invited a series of individuals who publicly flout Catholic teaching, including a pro-abortion religious sister, a transgender woman and the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, along with at least two Catholic gay activists.<\/p>\nThe White House was illuminated in gay pride colors on June 26, 2015, after the Supreme Court legalized gay same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
One of the invitees, retired Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson<\/a>, made history by becoming the first openly gay episcopal bishop in 2003 and subsequently the first to divorce his gay partner in 2014, after having previously separated from his wife of 14 years. He has attended a number of religious events with the Obama administration, offering a prayer at President Obama\u2019s inauguration in 2009 and taking part in the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast.<\/p>\nMateo Williamson, a cross-dressing woman and former co-chairman of the Transgender Caucus for Dignity USA, has also received an invitation to the White House for Pope Francis\u2019 visit. Williamson says that though she now thinks of herself as a man, she continues to be attracted to males. \u201cToday I identify as a gay man<\/a> and before that was difficult to understand because I thought that in order to be transgender, in order to be a transgender male that I had to be attracted to females but I never have throughout my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\nThough Pope Francis has said that he doesn\u2019t believe in judging persons and is ready to welcome anyone in Christ\u2019s name, he has also said that Catholics do not accept the modern mentality of transgenderism and once said that gay marriage<\/a> is the devil\u2019s \u201cattempt to destroy God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThe acceptance of our bodies as God\u2019s gift,\u201d Francis wrote in his encyclical letter<\/a> on the environment, \u201cis vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House was illuminated in gay pride colors on June 26, 2015, after the Supreme Court legalized gay same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
One of the invitees, retired Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson<\/a>, made history by becoming the first openly gay episcopal bishop in 2003 and subsequently the first to divorce his gay partner in 2014, after having previously separated from his wife of 14 years. He has attended a number of religious events with the Obama administration, offering a prayer at President Obama\u2019s inauguration in 2009 and taking part in the 2014 National Prayer Breakfast.<\/p>\n Mateo Williamson, a cross-dressing woman and former co-chairman of the Transgender Caucus for Dignity USA, has also received an invitation to the White House for Pope Francis\u2019 visit. Williamson says that though she now thinks of herself as a man, she continues to be attracted to males. \u201cToday I identify as a gay man<\/a> and before that was difficult to understand because I thought that in order to be transgender, in order to be a transgender male that I had to be attracted to females but I never have throughout my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Pope Francis has said that he doesn\u2019t believe in judging persons and is ready to welcome anyone in Christ\u2019s name, he has also said that Catholics do not accept the modern mentality of transgenderism and once said that gay marriage<\/a> is the devil\u2019s \u201cattempt to destroy God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe acceptance of our bodies as God\u2019s gift,\u201d Francis wrote in his encyclical letter<\/a> on the environment, \u201cis vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation.\u201d<\/p>\n