The Pope is dope

In the first press conference of his four month papacy, the 76-year-old pontiff said it was not for him to judge if someone was homosexual.
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis asked, as he returned from the first overseas trip since being elected Pope in March.
He said there should be no discrimination against gays, but also reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s universal catechism, which says that while homosexual orientation is not sinful, homosexual acts are.
He was much more conciliatory than his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests.
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Looks like he is easing the Church's stance on gays
 
Pope Francis has said the Catholic Church is too focused on preaching about abortion, gay people and contraception and needs to become more merciful.

..."The church's pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently," Francis said.

"We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel." ...



.... "This Church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. We must not reduce the bosom of the universal Church to a nest protecting our mediocrity,'' he said.



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And watch this:

Fucking hell, did a Pope just say all this? Yes: a Pope said that. This is nothing short of revolutionary.
 
Perun said:
Words are never revolutionary; deeds are.
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And he is DOING plenty too. The thing to see is how lasting his legacy will be. John XXIII wasn't around for long, but the Vatican II Council has had far reaching effects. John Paul II's legacy is still bearing down on the Holy See, Benedict XVI couldn't escape it, yet Francis is doing well so far to make his own mark in a very positive way whether through word or action.
 
To quote my friend Ian: "Sometimes the pope says something really cool, and I find myself nodding my head in agreement. Then I remember he's the head of an international criminal syndicate responsible for generations of entrenched genocides and sexual abuse, and all of a sudden I decide I don't care what he says."
 
Yeah. Tell Ian that even if I find myself nodding in agreement, I don't care that about what Obama says because I remember he's the head of an organization that has a history of racism and killing natives. Trying to make things better by trying to change laws on weapon possession and other unhealthy matters that are rooted deep in American culture doesn't make a difference anyway.

edit:
Of course you know I do appreciate Obama.

I also find it interesting to see someone in the Catholic Church going in a different (better!) direction. He will have a hard time, also within the Church (e.g. already right wing American bishops are muttering).

I find it hard to understand that someone who agrees with the stuff an individual says, should discard the words of this individual because other people of the organization in question did wrong (in the past). If I like what Merkel says on politics in Europe, should I not care for her words because a loudmouth with a mustache had a more destructive policy?
 
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I'm really not bothered by the Catholic Church's past. I am bothered by their present and the steps Francis hasn't taken to alleviate...anything. He talks a good game. But skeptics are still being prosecuted in India by the Catholic Church for proving that what the Church wanted to claim was a miracle is really a rusty pipe. Benedict's doctrine excommunicating those who talk to the police regarding sexual assault by the clergy still stands. Hell, the Catholic Church has not begun a public, rigorous investigation into the history of child abuse. I'm petrified about what's happening in the developing world.

He talks a good game, but he could change stuff. He isn't changing anything. In that, he's like Obama. Obama talked a good game and he did some good things, but when it comes to a lot of big stuff he isn't changing anything.
 
In that I agree with you LC. Unlike Obama that has to fight Congress to make any real changes, the Pope's word IS the last word. He says jump and the rest of the Church, whether they like it or not, have to say how high. HOWEVER, he is being very cautious and it seems to me he is just easying everyone in. Just because we haven't heard any news about it, doesn't mean he hasn't done anything about it. I'm sure the sex abuse thing is high on his list as well as HIV/AIDS in the third world, world wide poverty, funding schools, charities, hospitals, seminaries, etc. He is head of the last true empire... It is going to take more than ONE Pope to effect so much needed change, just like it's going to take more than one black president to change things in the U.S. There needs to be consistency in legislation, policy and follow through. It will all be for naught if the next Pope basically shits on all the changes Francis intends to make. Just like Congress halting goverment to 'defund' Obamacare.
 
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Atheist propaganda.

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err, sorry that flopped out and well, no problem that you posted that of course, but I find this amount of distrust a bit unhealthy.

I for one do not find it difficult to recognize the good in this man.
 
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Hahaha, what??

This entire thread could be called 'Catholic propaganda'. Are any of the so-called atheists stooping to that level? No, they're trying to have a constructive discussion.
But sure, yeah, call it what you will. It doesn't exactly make you look mature though, just sayin'.
 
Somebody who rejects the pope is an atheist? Wow, that's... what's the word for it?
 
And agonized they couldn't stand how this man made the image of the church so much better than previous popes. They stood by and could do nothing about it...
 
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