Pope Francis strikes the right balance when he maintains that it is impossible to impose the faith but it is necessary to present and defend Church teaching with clarity. For instance, he wrote a book with a fellow Argentine, a rabbi, in which they had conversations on many topics. One of those topics was same-sex marriage. He gave his views and the views of the Church, which were summarized in this excerpt of a review of the book:
*[They discussed] the issue of same-sex “marriage” which he [then-Cardinal Bergoglio] describes as an “anti-value”, and “anthropologic regression”. It is a weakening of the institution of marriage, an institution that has existed for thousands of years and is “forged according to nature and anthropology.”
But again, the cardinal stresses the importance of free will – including the freedom to sin. Although a priest has the right to give an opinion if it is in service to the people, he “does not have the right to force anything on anyone’s private life,” Bergoglio says. “If God, in creation, ran the risk of making us free, who am I to get involved?”. He says “one has to speak very clearly about values, limits, commandments, but spiritual and pastoral harassment is not allowed.” *
from
zenit.org/en/articles/cardinal-bergoglio-s-dialogues-with-rabbi-released-in-book-form
Do you see how he strikes that balance? Well, of course some people who are in favor of same sex marriage would be willing to tolerate that kind of a view and that brand of tolerance in someone they trusted as a friend, and some would not.
