Pope Francis sounds too much like Obama to be honored by Congress, Republican says

[theHandpuppet]

18. Personally speaking, a man who doesn't support the basic human rights of women and gays...

... isn't someone I would honor in Congress. Regarding poverty -- full equality for women, which includes reproductive rights, is essential to alleviating global poverty. Health care includes sex education, access to contraception and abortion, etc. In light of these issues, should Congress really honor someone whose opposition to these principles runs so deep that he expressed his support for the national Right-To-Life March and the virulently anti-gay March for Marriage? Whose Bishops and Archbishops have filed scores of lawsuits against the contraception mandate, and who have condemned every gay marriage victory in the U.S. (most recently the Virginia decision just a couple of days ago?).

No, I think not. I can and will continue to fight against poverty, for immigration reform, health care et al, but not at the expense of human rights for women and gays and Pope Francis could do the same. Perhaps he could take a page from Desmond Tutu's playbook:

Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has apparently joined the ranks of gay rights supporters in the church. On Friday, he said he would rather go to hell before going to a heaven that “condemned homosexuality as a sin.”

“I would not worship a God who is homophobic, and that is how deep I feel about this,” Tutu said at a United Nations’ gay rights campaign function in Cape Town, South Africa. “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. 'No,' I would say. 'Sorry. I mean, I would much rather go to the other place.'”

Tutu likened gay rights to the civil rights battle for blacks and apartheid.

“I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid,” Tutu said, as reported by Agence France-Presse. “For me, it is at the same level.”