Holy Cow! WHATS UP WITH THIS POPE?!

[Tommy_Carcetti]

73. Not going to happen, whether you want it to or not.

The Catholic Church is not going to change its position on abortion. And I don't think there's a significant enough percentage of abortion rights supporting Catholics that is going to "hold the feet to the fire" on that matter.

So if you are expecting that, you'll be disappointed. If you want to see that, you'll be disappointed.

Nor do I expect to see gay marriages performed within the walls of a Catholic church in my lifetime.

What we could see, however, is a lessening of the emphasis on those issues in the political sphere. While we might not see gay Catholic weddings, we may see the Catholic Church soften its opposition to gay marriage in the secular realm. And in terms of abortion, we may see a change in perspective, from simply advocating a purely political legislative approach to abortion to addressing issues such as hunger and poverty that often play a key factor into many women getting abortions. I think there will still be some legislative/political advocacy on the issue there, but it might not be as myopic and prevalent. And frankly, it may be a welcome change that both anti-abortion advocates and abortion rights supporters would be happy to see. Or at least they should be.

I do think we'll eventually see some change in terms of positions on contraception and eligibility for the priesthood (although we'll probably see consideration of married clergy before the question of female clergy gets seriously entertained.)