Pope Francis says lots of awesome things in new interview

[hey_kayla_jay]

Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic church on Thursday with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those issues despite recriminations from critics.

His surprising comments came in a

Comments

[brbsb]

I'm loving this new pope. It almost makes me want to be Catholic. Almost being the key word there.

[roseofjuly]

LOL I came here to say this very same thing.

[amyura]

Yup, almost. I left when we baptized my older daughter in my husband's liberal mainline Protestant denomination and until this week I haven't looked back.

But the sex abuse in my archdiocese left some deep wounds.

[yeats]

i submitted this too!

on the one hand, it's important to remember that he's not discussing any doctrinal changes, only a change in emphasis. still, i maintain it's a significant moment -- it brings the church much more in line with its actual fundamentals, and i don't think you'll ever see revised positions on these issues without preliminary steps like this. also, anyone who isn't or has never been a catholic and doubts the momentousness of this step should talk to all my catholic relatives, who are a) elated and b) legitimately afraid for francis's life.

the full interview, by the way, is completely fascinating and well worth a read. any pope that cites fellini, chagall and dostoyevsky as among his favorites is pretty cool, plus he talks a lot about his experience as a school teacher.

[mutive]

Agreed. The Catholic Church still is completely against the idea of women becoming priests. They're still against any sex that isn't for the purpose of making babies. (Including between spouses where one is HIV positive. I believe the only "condoms okay" statement came in favor of gay male prostitutes where condoms were seen as a "lesser evil" - which came from Benedict of all people.) They are still in favor of abortion being made illegal, etc. etc.

With that said, I have a much easier time with a Catholic Church that has decided to put its focus on helping the poor and seeking social justice rather than on one that primarily focuses on what people are doing in their bedrooms. So this is a good thing.

[little_rachael]

I'm cautiously optimistic about this pope.

[little_rachael]

I mean, realistically. I'm not thinking he's going to change the church's position on anything. But at least that he'll be less shitty than the previous pope.

[rainbow_fish]

Okay I feel kinda torn.

On the one hand, I obviously think him preaching the whole "it's not my place to judge people" thing is great. Hopefully it will do some good.

But on the other hand, I still feel really gross about giving out cookies to someone for meeting the basic minimum of human decency.

And then on the other other hand (wait, what?)I know what a huge deal it is that the leader of the catholic church is saying these things. And this is def a step in the right direction

But then on some other hand from the grave, I still get impression that this is the "no guys, it's okay if you think the gays are icky and abortion makes women awful, but we really should just stop saying so often bc it's giving us a bad rep" thing. And I aint got time for that either.

Idk. I'm also super sleepy so this is probs super incoherent.

[doverz]

I feel the exact same way.

[nutmegdealer]

this is precisely why i don't get everyone's excitement over this.

[hawkward]

Totally off topic, but your avatar made me lawl.

[hinoema]

“We have to find a new balance,” the pope continued, “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.”

The Catholic Church (TM), Brought to You by Febreeze!

The US Conservatives are going to shit bricks about this.

“Nobody should try to use the words of the pope to minimize the urgent need to preach and teach about abortion,” said the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life.

I take it he's the Church version of the mustache twirling Grand Vizier.

[sephirajo]

A lot of US Conservatives already don't like us. I can't see how t his will change much when the church across the street often called us "The Church of the Whore of Babylon!" Maybe now it will be the Church of the Whore of Air Fresheners :D

And as to Rev. Pavone, you are right on about him. -__-

[redstar826]

well, Catholic conservatives do exist though. I have the misfortune of being related to some of them.

[sephirajo]

Yes they do, and they baffle the shit out of me. But you do have to make the distinction between them and Christian Conservatives, as they will often loudly point out that they are in no way the same thing at all.