Pope Francis, "The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise...

[theHandpuppet]

163. What facts?

You mean like these?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0521/Catholic-groups-take-fight-against-Obama-birth-control-rules-to-court
http://www.usccb.org/news/2013/13-200.cfm
http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican.php?id=9352
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100258048/catholic-bishops-back-nigerias-anti-gay-law-uk-pro-life-leader-applauds-them/
http://www.mambaonline.com/2014/02/05/nigeria-catholic-bishops-back-anti-gay-law/
http://michael-in-norfolk.blogspot.com/2012/08/cameroon-catholic-archbishop-says-gays.html
http://www.usccb.org/news/2014/14-033.cfm
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/02/us-france-protests-idUSBREA110AG20140202
http://americablog.com/2013/04/catholic-bishop-andre-vingt-trois-violence-gay-marriage-france.html
http://www.splcenter.org/get%20informed/publications/Dangerous%20Liaisons/Dangerous%20Liaisons%3A%20Outlawing%20Homosexuality%20in%20Belize
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/croatia-catholic-church-forcing-people-sign-against-gay-marriage130613
http://www.edgeboston.com/news/religion/news/145063/in_wake_of_anti-gay_violence,_catholic_cardinal_launches_new_attack_on_same-sex_families
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/22/1093499/-Catholic-bishops-coordinate-lawsuits-against-Obama-administration-over-birth-control-mandate

From the local parish to the UN:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_at_the_United_Nations
94 member-states of the United Nations have sponsored the declaration in support of LGBT rights in either the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, or in both. Sponsoring nations are listed below (Edited)

Among the first to voice opposition for the declaration, in early December 2008, was the Holy See's Permanent Observer at the United Nations, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who claimed that the declaration could be used to force countries to recognise same-sex marriage:[15]

Be proud!!

With the collusion of some Catholic Bishops and Archbishops, LGBTs are being imprisoned, tortured and killed in countries around the globe. At their direction, political forces are mounted to further oppress women and LGBTs. Marches are organized that have led to anti-gay violence. In this country, Bishops have led efforts to defeat gay marriage rights, ENDA, and contraception coverage, including testifying before Congress. Millions have been spent in anti-gay, anti-woman lobbying, monies that could have been spent on the poor and not the lobbying against legislation from which poor women would have most benefitted. And I'm not even venturing into the subject of the Holy See's rejection of the UN investigations into child abuse.

GLBTs are being beaten, tortured, imprisoned and killed. Women globally are facing increasingly stringent laws against reproduction rights, laws that threaten their very lives or for millions of women, lead to impoverishment. All the pretty posters and recycled speeches about income inequality won't change those facts. While too many progressives are busy being mesmerized by Francis the pop icon, what his minions are doing while scurrying behind the curtain of the Great OZ is another thing entirely. The Bishops are getting away with it precisely because every time these very issues come under scrutiny, you can bet there will be another PR piece and another smiley-faced photo and some recycled pronouncements about income inequality, the same words spoken by Benedict and John Paul II and Popes before them, but presented as if these ideas sprang from the mind of Francis like Athena from the head of Zeus.

I can't imagine there is anyone on DU who isn't working to fight income inequality and poverty. But in the process, I for one will not create a folk hero from a bigot, from institutional bigotry that imprisons, impoverishes, oppresses and kills women (and their children) and GLBTs. That is not the price we must pay in the fight against income inequality. It's simply another front in the battle for all human dignity and equality.