"I see a glimmer of hope that I'm hoping will open up into a floodlight into this conversation . . ."For background, read Liberal Media Say Pope Francis OKs Gay & Women Priests but actually the Pope Said the Gay Agenda is the Work of the Devil, and also the Pope Disappoints Liberals by Opposing 'Gay Adoption.'
-- Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice
Also read Pope's New Spanish Cardinal Says 'Gay Gene' is a Defect
In addition, read Pope Francis Decries Abortion; Vatican Says Media Distort Him
-- From "Pope Francis: Church could support same-sex civil unions" by CNN, posted at WPIX-TV11 (NY) 3/5/14
Pope Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage on Wednesday, but suggested in a newspaper interview that it could support same-sex civil unions.
For instance, civil unions provide financial security to cohabitating couples, “as for instance in medical care,” the Pope said in a wide-ranging interview published Wednesday in Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily.
A number of Catholic bishops have supported civil unions for gay couples, including Pope Francis when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2010, according to reports in National Catholic Reporter and The New York Times.
On the role of women in the church, an issue of particular concern to Catholics in the United States, the Pope hinted that changes could be in the works.
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From "Did Pope Francis open the door to same-sex civil unions?" by Joshua Normanm, CBS News 3/5/14
Pope Francis has famously declared a cessation of hostilities in the culture wars on same-sex marriage, contraception, and abortion that had defined the Catholic Church for much of the modern era.
On Wednesday, he signaled a new direction in that regard when discussing civil unions in a short but wide-ranging interview . . . he explained why he thought civil unions were created in the first place. . . . in a translation of the interview provided by John Thavis, the former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Services (CNS.)
The Vatican has as recently as January said the pope and the Catholic Church are not open to same-sex civil unions, and Thavis told CBS News the pope's wording was deliberately vague in the most recent interview.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Pope, in interview, suggests church could tolerate some civil unions" by Francis X. Rocca, Catholic News Service 3/5/14
"Matrimony is between a man and a woman," the pope said, but moves to "regulate diverse situations of cohabitation (are) driven by the need to regulate economic aspects among persons, as for instance to assure medical care." Asked to what extent the church could understand this trend, he replied: "It is necessary to look at the diverse cases and evaluate them in their variety."
Asked if the church's teachings on sexual and medical ethics represented "non-negotiable values," a formulation used by Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis said he had "never understood the expression 'non-negotiable values.'"
"Values are values, period," he said. "I cannot say that, among the fingers of a hand, there is one less useful than another. That is why I cannot understand in what sense there could be negotiable values."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Catholic Church on Homosexual Acts: ‘Under No Circumstances Can They Be Approved’" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 3/5/14
When asked how the Church could address the issue, Pope Francis said, “It is necessary to look at the diverse cases and evaluate them in their variety.” The Pope did not say that civil unions – “diverse situations of cohabitation” – were impermissible, but that the “diverse cases” could be evaluated “in their variety.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “homosexual persons are called to chastity.” (2359) The Catechism further says, “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.” (2357)
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Women Could Have Greater Role in Church, Says Pope" by Deborah Ball, Wall Street Journal 3/5/14
The Vatican could soon make significant changes to the role of women in the Catholic Church and to its approach to divorcées, Pope Francis said in a newspaper interview.
Some Vatican experts have raised the possibility of the pope appointing women to senior positions in the Vatican bureaucracy, perhaps as the head of one of its powerful departments.
But the pope suggested even bigger changes could be in store, with a senior cardinal now consulting female experts in considering possible options.
Some church leaders advocate making women deacons, ordained ministers who can assist at Mass or perform baptisms, although the pope made no reference to such a possibility.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Pope Francis Cracks Down on American Liberal Nuns, Priests
