Fr. Mario Alexis Portella: Church Teaching Is Not Up for Vote

By Fr. Mario Alexis Portella, Crisis Magazine, Oct. 11, 2021

Fr. Mario Alexis Portella is a priest of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Florence, Italy. …

“We’re here to preserve democracy, not practice it.” Such were the words of Captain Frank Ramsey (played by Gene Hackman) in the 1995 film Crimson Tide. Ramsey, Commanding Officer of a nuclear submarine, said this to his Executive Officer, Lt. Commander Ron Hunter (played by Denzel Washington), when the two differed on what decisions to make after radio communications problems aboard the USS Alabama prevented the sub from receiving its orders clearly during a tense confrontation with Russian warships.

The extreme opposite seems to have occurred on October 1, when German Catholic bishops and lay leaders, in a 168 to 28 vote—with five abstentions—openly defied the directives of Rome as they called for the Church to bless same-sex relationships. Rome, in March, had stated this was impossible since God “cannot bless sin.” …

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