I’m writing in response to Nathan James’ column, “Pope Francis, nontraditional stances may preserve Catholic Church’s future.” Mr. James made several assertions about Pope Francis and the Catholic Church that, as a Roman Catholic, I would like to address.

Many Catholics chuckled at the liberal media when it celebrated Pope Francis’s recent remarks about people who experience same-sex attractions because we understand Pope Francis wasn’t saying anything new.

Pope Francis was merely affirming Catholic doctrine when he said, “A gay person who is seeking God, who is of good will – well, who am I to judge him? The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says one must not marginalize these persons. They must be integrated into society. The problem isn’t this [homosexual] orientation – we must be like brothers and sisters. The problem is something else. The problem is lobbying either for this orientation or a political lobby or a Masonic lobby.”

Pope Francis wasn’t specifically discussing gay priests; he was addressing questions about reports of a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican. Furthermore, the Church has always welcomed people who experience same-sex attractions. The Church does not, however, teach that individuals should act on every sexual attraction that they experience. Pope Francis was reiterating that we must distinguish an individual from his or her attractions.

Mr. James wrote, “Pope Francis is poised to alter some of the most enduring fixtures of modern Catholicism.” This couldn’t be further from the truth. Pope Francis reiterated Catholic teaching as then-Cardinal Bergoglio when he encouraged Argentinean clergy to protest the legalization of same-sex marriage, warning that redefining marriage could “seriously injure the family,” calling it “a destructive pretension against the plan of God,” and called gay adoption a form of “discrimination against children.” He also wrote in “On Heaven and Earth,” “[same-sex marriage] transcends the religious question; it is an anthropological one. … Everyone needs a masculine father and a feminine mother to help them shape their identity.”

In his first encyclical, which he co-authored with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Francis affirmed that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for the nurturing of children. Pope Francis hasn’t said anything contradictory to the Catholic teaching that contraception is intrinsically evil because it removes the possibility of procreation from sex.

Pope Francis’ remarks about atheists being able to do good are nothing new, either. He pointed out the obvious, that one doesn’t have to be Catholic to be virtuous.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “God our Savior … desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth … For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men” (1 Timothy 2:3-6; Titus 2:11).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “… Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: all therefore enjoy an equal dignity” (CCC #1934).

It also teaches, “Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the virtue of religion but the imputability of the offense can be significantly diminished in virtue of the intentions and the circumstances” (CCC #2125).

Mr. James notes, “On social issues like gay marriage, the church has lagged behind the general population for decades. In many affluent countries, this is leading to slowed growth in the church compared to other belief systems.”

Public opinion has no bearing on the truths that the Catholic Church teaches. Catholicism can seem like a real stick in the mud when it comes to sodomy, contraception and moral relativism, but that’s why people stay in or join the Catholic Church. We don’t like what the world offers us. We see many of our peers are desperately unhappy – or maybe we once were, too – with the ways of the world, and we realize we are all called to greater things.

I’m glad Pope Francis’s words resound with a diverse group of people. Pope Francis isn’t saying anything new to Catholics, but he’s evangelizing to non-Catholics, which is cool.

I would like to invite Mr. James to come to St. Francis University Parish one Tuesday evening this semester for our weekly student mass and meal. He’ll find a pleasant group of Catholic students who are happy to further discuss our faith, the Church and Pope Francis. We don’t bite.

Claire Chretien is a junior majoring in public relations and American studies.