President Biden’s administration is, in what can only be interpreted as a deliberate insult to his own church, flaunting a large pride flag in front of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. U.S. embassies abroad are generally instructed to fly pride flags in June, but flying one in the Vatican is particularly insulting to the Roman Catholic Church given that the State Department is clearly aware of the offense the flag could cause in certain parts of the world.
Pride flag flown in Vatican
Biden and other leading Democrats continue to identify as pious Catholics, but the clash between their professed faith and their political positions has made that identification laughable.
The pride banner in the Vatican is only the latest exchange of blows between the church and the Democrats; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was recently denied communion in her own diocese for continuing to promote abortion.
Like abortion, the pride flag is very offensive to faithful Catholics and displaying it in the embassy is a deliberately insensitive act.
Pride itself is one of the seven deadly sins condemned by the Catholic Church and Christianity in general, and pride in homosexuality and promiscuity is particularly egregious.
Catholic doctrine explicitly says that homosexuals are called to free themselves from sin through chastity and self-control. Pride month and its associated flag represent the complete opposite of this teaching.
Diplomats anywhere should be extremely sensitive to local beliefs regardless of their own opinions, but Biden’s Vatican embassy is loudly and publicly advertising its pride month display without any regard for the offense it is causing.
The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See celebrates #PrideMonth with the Pride flag on display during the month of June. The United States respects the dignity and equality of LGBTQI+ people. LGBTQI+ rights are human rights. pic.twitter.com/Xentlnr16E
— U.S. in Holy See (@USinHolySee) June 1, 2021
Church opposes pride
This looks even worse in light of the fact that the State Department is very aware that it is causing that offense but is clearly unconcerned in the case of the Vatican.
In other countries where the pride flag would be taken as an insult, the State Department has conspicuously refrained from putting it on display.
Embassies in Middle Eastern or African countries that suppress homosexuality are not flying the flag, implicitly because the State Department believes that locals may react violently to a perceived insult.
The Catholic Church, which is just as vigorously opposed to pride month displays, receives no such consideration because priests aren’t likely to riot over the slight.
Pope Francis himself has not commented on the flag and he isn’t likely to, but the Biden administration may be mistake if they are interpreting that silence as tacit approval.
The Supreme Pontiff has been more liberal in his public remarks than most of his predecessors, but he remains broadly in line with church teachings on abortion and homosexuality, and there is no apparent danger of the popemobile showing up in a pride parade any time soon.
