Tim Kaine Predicts Church Will ‘Change’ on Gay Marriage

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WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Hillary Clinton's running mate is predicting the Catholic Church will "change" on its teaching on same-sex marriage.

At a speech given Saturday in Washington, D.C. at the 20th Annual Human Rights Campaign National Dinner, Catholic Tim Kaine said, "My full, complete, unconditional support for marriage equality is at odds with the current doctrine of the Church that I still attend. But I think that's going to change, too."

His comments were followed by a round of applause.

Nearly 4,000 attended the event to celebrate so-called gay rights, hosted by the nation's largest same-sex marriage advocacy group.

Citing Genesis, Kaine also used Scripture to rationalize his views directly at odds with Church teaching. "My Church also teaches me about a Creator in the first chapter of Genesis who surveys the entire world including mankind and said, 'It is very good. It is very good,'" he commented.

"Who am I to challenge God for the beautiful diversity of the human family?" he asked. "I think we're supposed to celebrate it, not challenge it." The comments were again met with thunderous applause.

Kaine also took the opportunity to denigrate opposing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. "Donald Trump is no friend to this community," Kaine claimed, "and he's no friend to the value of equality."

Both the Democratic and Republican nominees have been courting the gay vote, with Trump saying after the June massacre at an Orlando gay nightclub, "It is a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation. It is an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity." Trump saw a bump in support from the LGBT community after his remarks.

In addition to supporting gay marriage, Kaine is also an ardent advocate of abortion. In late August, a group of faithful Catholics protested outside Kaine's parish in the diocese of Richmond, Virginia, where he's been attending for three decades. Their protest was aimed at Kaine's anti-Catholic positions on homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, as well as the parish's refusal to deny him Holy Communion, as mandated by Canon 915 of the Catholic Code of Canon Law.

Kaine's bishop has yet to issue a public statement denying him Holy Communion, instead relegating himself to a weak message leaving it to individual Catholics to decide the issue for themselves.

"It is the duty of all Catholics, no matter their profession," Bp. Francis DiLorenzo stated, "to decide through an upright and informed conscience as to their worthiness to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist."

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