Pope Francis

Pope Francis Responds to Rush Limbaugh's "Marxist" Charges
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/15/1262883/-Pope-Francis-Responds-to-Rush-Limbaugh-s-Marxist-Charges?detail=facebook#

Rush Limbaugh would not know about feeding the poor, he only knows about feeding his own fat ass...

When's the Pope going to give women the right to become priests?

He's not. He already said so. And seriously, how many women are chomping at the bit to live celibate lives of poverty? Why is this such an issue...

The issue is spiritual equality.

the whole celibacy thing will prob end soon, and the poverty thing is a very good thing, just ask the Pope.

K, so a few women that have a burning to be a priest. On a scale of contraceptives, abortion, homosexuals, poverty, disease and past crimes it hardly rates. I'd say this pope has his hands full and to waste time on an issue that has had to wait 2 thousand years already, let's give the guy a break on this one. The day will come...

Perhaps you are right Ceili. But I think many women who have been battered by men find celibacy to be an appropriate means of healing. As for poverty, women also seem more empathetic towards feeding children as it aligns with an innate nurturing spirit that women seem to empathize with more so than men. Why should it be an issue?

Well many men use celibacy as a guise to disguise their true intent to bring sexual abuse into the church. Having women who are actually celibate and not just pretending to be could and would actually clean up some of the ranks. Statistically women are "far" less likely to sexually abuse children. This IS an equally important issue as income fairness...

Rather than downplaying the importance of women's right issues the church should have a complete reversal and allow women choice when it comes to their own reproductive rights and access to the priesthood if not also the papacy.

because as we all know there is such a huge population of them because everyone knows that men suck!

Higher than 40% of males are battered by women. In such cases often celibacy is a way of healing and often even changing sexual preference in both cases can become a viable solution.

Celibacy is not for everyone, the New Testament calls celibacy a "gift"...

Males are brutes, though either sex can become stigmatized by bad relationships and seek the solace of celibacy...

As for males caring about the poor, the statistics don't lie, women are more often abandoned by their male mates and left to raise children alone.

There are of course exceptions to every rule...

Also, celibacy can simply just be a lifestyle or religious choice for some and does not necessarily require a traumatic experience to be considered.

You won’t believe what Pope Francis did now
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/another-surprise-from-pope-francis-94929987979

Good riddance to homophobia and intolerance in the Catholic church.

A true God accepts LGBT people who live their lives with love and charity.

New Englander named Maine's new Catholic bishop
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article/265729/2/New-Englander-named-Maines-new-Catholic-bishop

This Bishop replaces Bishop Malone who spent "millions" of church dollars (with the republican tea party) to try and overturn gay marriage and withdrew funds from the local soup kitchen because they supported LGBT equality.

They (Catholics and tea party) waved US flags and veteran's flags while they held up hate signs toward gays...

This was the very moment I left the republican party and became an agnostic.

I have hopes the new Pope has finally rid the city and church of Catholic homophobe bishops...

The tea party has one less stooge...

are you aware that the current pope agrees with the last pope on homosexuality?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/09/06/pope-francis-supports-french-gay-man_n_3878617.html?just_reloaded=1

Quote:
“Your homosexuality. It doesn’t matter. One way or another , we are all children of God. This is why we must continue to be good," the Pope told him.

Does that sound like Benedict Ratzinger?

Trutino said the phone call ended with the Pope asking him to pray for him and that he would do the same in return.

The pope asked a gay man to pray for him...

Pope Francis draws crowds 4 times larger than Benedict
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/18/21956719-pope-francis-draws-crowds-4-times-larger-than-benedict?lite



Looks like those prayers are working

An interesting and useful and rather thorough article about Pope Francis here:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_carroll

It's also fairly long, so I won't quote bits of it. The New Yorker issue may still be on the news stands for a few days.

What a beautiful testimony of the heart! Do you know if the Vatican releases Pope Francis' speeches online?

I will Google it but just wonder if there is a site for that and if you or anyone knows the official URL?

Thanks for posting this poignant and heartfelt story Ossobuco.

Just came up with this:

http://www.gcatholic.org/documents/papal-speeches.htm

No, I don't know.

That whole long article is very rich, though - it quotes a lot of people, including Francis.