Pope Bluntly Faults Church’s Focus on Gays and Abortion

[Are_grits_groceries]

Pope Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said that the Roman Catholic church had grown “obsessed” with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak of those issues despite recriminations from some critics.

In remarkably blunt language, Francis sought to set a new tone for the church, saying it should be a “home for all” and not a “small chapel” focused on doctrine, orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings.

“It is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time,” the pope told the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a fellow Jesuit and editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit journal whose content is routinely approved by the Vatican. “The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently.
<snip>
“A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” he told Father Spadaro. “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.”

The interview also serves to present the pope as a human being, who loves Mozart and Dostoevsky and his grandmother, and whose favorite film is Fellini’s “La Strada.”

The 12,000-word interview ranges widely, and may confirm what many Catholics already suspected: that the chameleon-like Francis bears little resemblance to those on the church’s theological or political right wing. He said some people had assumed he was an “ultraconservative” because of his reputation when he served as the superior of his Jesuit province in Argentina. He pointed out that he was made superior at the “crazy” young age of 36, and that his leadership style was too authoritarian.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/world/europe/pope-bluntly-faults-churchs-focus-on-gays-and-abortion.html?_r=0

Whoooo! He is doubling down on his message to the hierarchy. The Vatican may correct him, but people are listening to his words not their corrections.

He is not so slowly pushing the Church away from its usual screeds and into areas they seem to ignore. The least, the last, and the lost are now on the top of his agnda.

I realize he has to answer for any previous actions that greatly hurt others. Hopeully that is on his agenda. As it is, his legacy may also include a great change in the Church. That in turn has enormous ramifications in many countries. It will depend on his fortitude and longevity.

[msongs]

1. In other words gays and abortionists are going to hell anyway so why waste time picking on them.

it damages the brand and makes the catholic church look intolerant

[sabrina 1]

3. No, that is not at all what he is saying. He is in fact, saying the opposite. He is pointing out

to so-called Christians that their bigotry and hatred is not Christian, that the God they claim to follow does not share their views. Iow, he is pointing out the sheer hypocrisy of a 'christian' hating anyone.

And this will deeply affect, for the better, the future for those who want to be part of the Church but who have been kept out by hypocrisy and bigotry which he clearly finds abhorrent.

[Arugula Latte]

4. Women and gays are still second-class citizens to the Church.

I don't know why anyone would want to join that institution.

[sabrina 1]

5. People have a right to join whatever institution they feel they belong to especially if it is

a comfort to them and we have no right to judge them. This pope is finally ending the horrendous, rightwing attempt to keep people who do believe in Jesus's teachings, out of 'that institution' where they have every right to be, openly and freely. The US Military, THAT institution treats women and gays horrendously also and up to just recently they who wanted to be a part of 'that institution' (many people wonder why anyone would want to be a part of THAT institution also, which really is no one's business but theirs) were forced to either hide from or try to accommodate the bigotry.

Too bad some General or other high ranking official in THAT institution didn't do long ago, what this Pope is doing now.

The bottom line is, I don't understand why many people want to belong to institutions I don't understand, however that is NOT my business, I am not them but do believe they have a right to join and belong to any institution they choose to belong to without ME judging them.

My SO's uncle believe in the teachings of Christ and was a Catholic his entire life, Jesus never said 'no gays, no abortion etc' so he chose to be a member of that institution. He was a musician he played for the God he believed in, not for the rightwing bigots who, had they known he was gay, would have wanted him out of the Church.

Wouldn't be a wonderful world if we all minded our business a little more and tried not to judge other people? It's really not that hard and that is what this Pope is saying, he is delivering a real blow to the Right Wing elements in the Church. They are NOT going to like this at all.

[Arugula Latte]

7. Of course they have the right to join it.

And of course other people have the right to make judgments about it. Are you saying that nobody should judge, say, a Republican for joining the Republican party? How about a Teapartier? A KKK member? Institutions need to be criticized. I'm so bloody sick of the tiptoeing around religious people for fear of upsetting their delicate sensibilities. Sorry but "faith" doesn't put anything off limits.

The U.S. military is another example of this supposedly off limits crap. We're not supposed to say anything negative for fear of not "supporting our troops" because they "fight for our freedom." What utter b.s. We would have been far better off as a nation had we kept a small, targeted force (that could accomplish tasks such as taking out Bin Laden) and using the trillions of dollars that have gone to military and its contractors for education, healthcare, infrastructure, research, etc. -- the kinds of things that civilized countries fund. I get why poor American kids with few options join the military, but beyond that I'm sick of my tax money being used to slaughter poor brown people.

Of course I judge, and I'll continue to do so. These institutions have a direct effect on me, as a woman and a taxpayer. They church has fought to limit my reproductive rights and the rights of my gay friends to marry. I'm not going to pretend it's some benevolent institution. Fuck that.

(And I'm not equating Catholics with KKK members. I'm making a point about judging the groups that people join. Of course we all judge.)

[Ms. Toad]

6. Wow. That's how you read this?

‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.

I am not a Catholic, but my spouse grew up Catholic and for the first few years of our marriage I attended mass every other weekend - because despite the rhetoric, there were nuns (primarily) and a few priests who endorsed her with love in a way which was crucial to her emotional and spiritual well being.

At some point, the church rhetoric became more prominent for her than her spiritual relationships with individual Catholics, and she joined the Friends (which we attended on the "off" weekends) - the faith community to which I have belonged my entire life. But that doesn't negate the reality that there are people I know who are members (some in leadership roles) who live their lives as Pope Francis suggests, with integrity and love for whole people - rather than condemnation for individual acts which some (but by no means all) cannot reconcile with their faith.

[eissa]

2. “Obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception

Sounds like the GOP.

[caraher]

8. Great stuff

I get why people say, "Forget the Catholic Church - why would anyone associate with them anymore?" But there are lots of people who haven't reached that point who are still good at heart, who can't let go of the emotional ties they have to the institution, and as the good people flee it's largely the rats who steer the ship. And it has reached a point where anyone who suggests perhaps the Catholic Church could make its public face be about something more than disapproval of homosexuality, contraception and abortion gets accused of being "cafeteria Catholics" - as if the core of the faith is supposed to be sexual politics.

It's at a point where someone like my mother (who used to have pretty centrist politics) now thinks to be Catholic means you must be Republican - she posted an article to that effect earlier this week on Facebook. This is a really important message, given the source, for nudging people who can be moved into reconsidering what's important, and to what degree their faith ought to be characterized by a fetus fetish.