Before I comment, I want to share that in general my respect for individuals as persons and as friends is not influenced by how I feel about issues. As Chesterton said: "we are all in the same boat, and we are all seasick."
Agree with it or not, the Catholic Church simply teaches that the use of sex for anything other than its God-ordained purpose - to be placed at the service of life - is sinful. To what degree it is sinful depends on several factors. But in general homosexual acts are considered by the Catechism to be less sinful than contraceptive acts between married persons: calling homosexual acts only "disordered" and contraceptive acts "evil".
Thus the Church, and this particular Archbishop, can no more call for the legitimization of same-sex unions than it can for cohabitation between opposite sex couples. Neither fulfills the vision of Jesus when in Matthew he says "from the beginning it was not so", and recalls us to God's original order.
The Archbishop is taking liberties with the moral principle "the lesser of two evils" beyond what is intended, and beyond what can be considered moral reasoning. However, the fact that he does is nothing new. Every major heresy in the history of Christianity was started by a priest, bishop, or monk. Ultimately Rome spoke. Given this Pope's unpredictable style...we wait and see.
