…to the typical observer, it\u2019s the Francis position that looks more like the church\u2019s real teaching (He is the pope, after all), even if it\u2019s delivered off the cuff or in footnotes or through surrogates.<\/p>\n
That position, more or less, seems to be that second marriages may be technically adulterous, but it\u2019s unreasonable to expect modern people to realize that, and even more unreasonable to expect them to leave those marriages or practice celibacy within them. So the sin involved in a second marriage is often venial not mortal, and not serious enough to justify excluding people of good intentions from the sacraments.<\/p>\n
Which brings us back to Tim Kaine\u2019s vision, because it is very easy to apply this modified position on remarriage to same-sex unions. If relationships the church once condemned as adultery are no longer a major, soul-threatening sin, then why should a committed same-sex relationship be any different? If the church makes post-sexual revolution allowances for straight couples, shouldn\u2019t it make the same ones for people who aren\u2019t even attracted to the opposite sex?<\/p>\n