"Francis appoints pro-LGBT cardinal praised by top Freemason as pres of Italian bishops’ conference"

"Pope Francis has appointed a pro-LGBT cardinal to be the new president of the Italian Bishops Conference, two years after a Masonic Grand Master praised him as a potential Pope.

On the second day of the 76th General Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), Pope Francis chose Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the 66-year-old Archbishop of Bologna, to lead the CEI for the next five years...

Cardinal Zuppi had received the most votes from the assembled bishops...

Pope Francis, prior to the General Assembly, declared that he wanted 'an authoritative cardinal' as leader of the CEI. Zuppi is considered by Vatican observers as a possible future Pope, or papabile, and is a familiar figure on Italian television networks.

History of pro-LGBT activism

Zuppi is widely regarded as a liberal in ecclesiastical circles, being a public proponent of LGBT ideology. In 2018 Zuppi penned an essay for the Italian translation of Father James Martin’s widely condemned pro-LGBT book, saying that the work was 'useful for encouraging dialogue, as well as reciprocal knowledge and understanding, in view of a new pastoral attitude that we must seek together with our L.G.B.T. brothers and sisters.'

He also quoted Cardinal Kevin Farrell’s commendation of the book, noting 'it will also help L.G.B.T. Catholics feel more at home in what is, after all, their church.'

Zuppi also praised another pro-LGBT work, written by an employee of the CEI in 2020, which called for a change in the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. Writing a preface for the work: 'When in our communities we really begin to look at people as God looks at them, then homosexual people, and everyone else, will also begin to feel, of course, part of the ecclesial community, on the way.'

'Sexual orientation, which no one ‘chooses,’ is not separable from the identity of the person; in welcoming the person we cannot prescind from his or her orientation,' wrote Zuppi."