General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Pope's comments on family and marriage seem very much open to interpretation-WRONG [View all]bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)First before you guys attack me, I am pro-choice, I believe that contraception should be available and affordable. I am pro equal rights for GLBT, pro same sex marriage and I left the Catholic Church many years ago over those very issues.
I'm also not sure if that is what he is doing. Maybe, like you guys say it's all dog whistle stuff but when he twice started in on the usual; preserve life at all stages, threats to the family talk and then immediately expanded the expected anti-gay anti abortion stuff into areas that are also Catholic doctrine but are not the areas that recent popes have pressed, I have to listen. That handshake with John Kerry--a man who was refused communion by Cardinal Burke--could also have been a signal--or maybe it was just appreciation for Kerry's role in the Cuba reconciliation--I don' know and you don't know either.
It's ambivalent, like Stinky said, it's open to interpretation. Sorry, I can't imagine Popes Benedict or John Paul being coy about abortion.
The Church will always consider abortion to be a sin. It will most likely always consider homosexuality to e a sin as well which is something that I do not agree with. Still, all of this is within the Church's rights and purview. You don't like it, don't be a Catholic or work from within to change it if you can.
My problem with the Church is when they try to impose their views on people who are not Catholics by influencing the laws of this and other countries and by preventing Catholic hospitals from providing medically necessary health care. If Pope Francis is trying to dial back on this and refocus the Church on social and economic justice and a broader definition of the sanctity of life than kudos to him.
I realize that I will not change anyone's mind on this issue. I'm not telling anyone else to think. I'm just saying what I think. Stinky's point is an interesting one.