I'm trying to understand the celebration here. He was very explicit to call for "Civil Unions" and not marriage. He doesn't support gay marriage. If I said: "I don't support gay marriage, but I believe there should be civil unions defined to allow gays to form legal pairings similar to marriage" I'd be called a bigot and homophobe. Yet here the left is celebrating the Pope basically making this exact statement.
I am a born in the cradle Irish Catholic, and due to some really bad shit that happened consistently over my upbringing I can say without a doubt I benefitted tremendously from the great Nuns and Priests that guided me and uplifted me thru some tough times. I literally had a village raise me. They also know how to provide a first class education.
Because LGBTQ long ago for the most part gave up on religion because they were sinners according to the church, the Pope saying this for them is a win. I would bet most LGBTQ today have zero desire to wed in the Catholic Church.
Frankly, this is a way IMO for the Pope to try to get LGBTQ members back to coming to celebrate Catholic Mass and tithing so the Church can collect more dollars. Just do not ask to be wed in our Church. Pope is trying to have his cake and eat it too. Religious participation has decreased in the world and in the US, and it has really hurt the Church due to 2 things: How the Church responded to the sexual abuse of boys by priests, and what for some Catholics was teachings that was too rigid in the "modern" world. Frankly, I have always felt priests and nuns should be allowed to marry.
I was recruited by the Church heavily to attend the seminary and become a priest, I probably would have if I did not have to take a vow of celibacy, I would have taken that vow seriously and I knew I could not do it. What is crazy is that one of the best Nuns I knew and that taught me first in grade school and then HS, someone who I really respected and was just to me the picture perfect Nun, I found out a few years ago had an affair with a priest. We are all human, and why the Church is so hung up on sex makes no sense to me. Let Nuns and Priests be married, it would make them better in counseling couples. So what if they decide to leave the Church to better support their family? More would be willing to serve the Church. The church should be encouraging marriage for all and families raising kids.
That all said, and not to get in to details I experienced first hand with the Catholic Church, like EVERYONE in the world, the Church is about raising $'s as well. I married a Baptist and we never seemed to decide what Church we would attend. We are both not good at the rituals of religion, but I do believe we are really good with our faith. Wish it was both...but I consider my faith very strong.
Call me nuts, I do believe part of the reason why the Catholic Church does not believe in birth control is so that it can have more Catholics and more dollars flowing in to the Church.
My Senior year at a Catholic HS we were required to take a marriage class and we had someone from the local hospital come and teach us every form of birth control known to man. Not certain if they still do this, but they had been doing this for a long time, many of us chuckled and thought you should have showed up our frosh year. What does that tell you? It tells you IMO in their eyes the lesser sin is birth control, and it prevents the greatest sin of abortion. Several female classmates were put on birth control when they started HS, this was back in the 70's, that is smart parenting if you ask me, especially if the daughter is honest and says I want to be sexually active if I meet the right guy.
Mary's conception of Jesus was called the immaculate conception, not the immaculate birth. The church will never waiver on its position of abortion and the belief that human life is formed at conception. I am a conservative guy by nature, so why not fall on the side of being conservative and not killing a human life? I was also adopted when I was weeks old...Birth control and adoption really needs to be taught and encouraged.
Prediction: Regardless of my personal religious beliefs, ACB will not overturn Roe v Wade. I do believe she will vote to support states to not allow individuals to have abortions after 20-24 weeks, whatever individual states decide. Near birth or late term abortions I believe she will not support, as she should IMO and this will be not over her religious views. She will also not roll back any laws that protect LGBTQ rights, and frankly that is fine with me. I really do not care what people do in the privacy of their homes or the sexual orientation or preferences or religious beliefs. I have hired LGTBQ employees, just do not care about their personal life or what anyone else does in their personal life as long as it does not impact their ability to stay healthy, productive, and out of jail and coming to work each day with a great attitude and treating everyone professionally and doing a great job. When it comes to great employees I am a slut, I do not care about skin color, religious beliefs, etc...All I care about is can you do a great job?