Monday, October 20, 2014

"Let's not get ahead of the 19th century here or anything..."

For those of you who've been mildly surprised with the almost modern Papacy of Pope Frank, the week started out pretty well.
In a dramatic shift in tone, a Vatican document said on Monday that homosexuals had "gifts and qualities to offer" and asked if Catholicism could accept gays and recognize positive aspects of same-sex couples. The document, prepared after a week of discussions at an assembly of 200 bishops on the family, said the Church should challenge itself to find "a fraternal space" for homosexuals without compromising Catholic doctrine on family and matrimony.
But finishing what you start, is not exactly a strong point on Vatican Hill.
Catholic bishops scrapped their landmark welcome to gays Saturday, showing deep divisions at the end of a two-week meeting sought by Pope Francis to chart a more merciful approach to ministering to Catholic families. The bishops failed to approve even a watered-down section on ministering to homosexuals that stripped away the welcoming tone of acceptance contained in a draft document earlier in the week.
So much for lightening up, Francis.

Of course, in reality it matters not.

Overwhelming 85% Of Young American Catholics Support Gays And Lesbian, Pew Report
If you cannot lead, and refuse to follow...get out of the way. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

4 comments:

StonyPillow said...

The Synod was an argument about semantics. How “welcoming” can the Catholic church be to a group of God’s children it still considers to be “inherently disordered” monsters?

Get real. The power of Darwin compels you.

NonyNony said...

I get the feeling that this is a proxy fight for something else. Internal politics not actually about gay people at all.

Much like how the whole birth control stance of the Catholic hierarchy is really about differentiating themselves from the Protestant upstarts who embraced birth control at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th century (ironically the fundamentalist churches have been persuaded to come back to the "right thinking" of the Mother Church on this one. I'm sure that the Inquisition - sorry Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - are happy to see that the useful idiots among the fundamentalist preachers are slowly dragging their flocks back towards the Church one step at a time...)

kingweasil said...

next year we'll discuss why the attendance at church has been steadily declining

pansypoo said...

if pope frank moves any faster, they will assinate him toot sweet.