Head of Vatican Court, Cardinal Raymond Burke, expressed his opposition to gay marriage yet again, while being interviewed by LifeSite News earlier this month. During the interview, Burke called same-sex relationships “intrinsically disordered” and hazardous for children to be exposed to.

“We wouldn’t, if it were another kind of relationship — something that was profoundly disordered and harmful — we wouldn't expose our children to that relationship, to the direct experience of it. And neither should we do it in the context of a family member who not only suffers from same-sex attraction, but who has chosen to live out that attraction, to act upon it, committing acts which are always and everywhere wrong, evil,” he said.

The cardinal, who is currently responsible for the Vatican’s Synod on the Family, had in his audience a handful of families and couples who were invited to ask questions and pose arguments that would apparently help evaluate the Catholic Church’s stance on different family-related issues.

Mavis and Ron Pirola, former members of the Pontifical Council for the Family, shared their opinions with the synod earlier that week, urging parishes to welcome gay couples. The Pirolas shared the story of a couple in their own community who struggled over deciding whether to invite their son’s same-sex partner to a Christmas event. They eventually decided they should.

“They fully believed in the Church’s teachings and they knew their grandchildren would see them welcome the son and his partner into the family," the Pirolas said, adding, "What a model of evangelization for parishes as they respond to similar situations in their neighborhood!”

However, Cardinal Burke seemed to disagree with the Pirolas.

“If homosexual relations are intrinsically disordered, which indeed they are — reason teaches us that and also our faith — then, what would it mean to grandchildren to have present at a family gathering a family member who is living in a disordered relationship with another person?”

Burke, along with four other conservative cardinals, released a book titled ‘Remaining in the Truth of Christ: Marriage and Communion in the Catholic Church’ only days before the two-week-long synod convened. The book challenges obvious moves adopted by comparatively moderate Catholic voices who wish to revise church teachings on gay marriage, divorce and other important family-related issues.

In response to the Cardinal’s comment about gay relationships being “intrinsically disordered,” Michael Sean Winters from National Catholic Reporters called Burke “tone deaf”, saying such declarations make the Church appear mean-spirited and foolish.

“This man's inability to speak with even a whiff of human compassion is intrinsically disordered if you ask me,” Winters said.

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