Archbishops Diarmuid and Eamon Martin speaking to the media on the publication of a new Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, The Joy of Love: On Love in the Family (published by Pope Frances today) in the Archbishop’s House, Drumcondra, Dublin
Homosexuality was another hot-button issue, and Francis took his cues from the majority view in the synods. (During the first synod, an interim report written by a committee of bishops used language that was strikingly welcoming to gay people, but it received so much criticism from other bishops at the synod that it was gone by the final report.)
Echoing the report issued by the second synod in 2015, Francis’ exhortation says that “every person regardless of sexual orientation” should be treated with respect and consideration, while “every sign of unjust discrimination is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence.”
But in the next section, he states categorically that the church cannot countenance same-sex marriages or unions, citing the second synod’s final report, which said “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.”
Pope Francis, Urging Less Judgment, Signals Path for Divorced on Communion (New York Times)
Kieran Rose, Of GLEN [Gay and lesbian Equality Network], writes:
This is a missed the opportunity to reflect and embrace the very positive changes in attitudes towards lesbian and gay people that have come about over the last 20 years in Ireland and across many parts of the world.
The Pope, as the leader of the institutional Catholic Church, could have dismantled a key element of the ‘architecture of homophobia’ which comes from the Church’s teachings on LGBT people.
The new document speaks of compassion but the message about LGBT people that it contains is still a negative one, and will be felt by many, in particular LGBT Catholics and their families, as a hurtful one.
Negative attitudes can feed a culture of hostility and as the recent LGBTIreland research showed such intolerance can cause real harm to the mental health and well-being of LGBT people, particularly young LGBTI people.
While movement on the Catholic Churches discrimination against LGBT people is progress, the challenge remains for the institutional Catholic Church not to be an agent of homophobia and transphobia.
The risk of this new document is that it will entrench views among some that LGBT people are somehow lesser and should be treated as such. This doesn’t reflect what the Irish people said last year in the marriage referendum, the majority of whom were Catholics.
Well done Pope Francis. Gay “marriage” as it’s called will never equate with the natural union between a man & woman.
Piss off dickflaps
excellent response. taking that if it’s ok?
Of course. The more calling out of dickflappery the better.
*applauds*
Don, your the result of a dribble.
*you’re as in ‘you’re a dickflap as well’. You and all your usernames
What’s a dickflap?
Dunno but it sounded funny. Banjo string maybe?
A friend of mine managed to tear his banjo string. Ever since, mere mention makes me wince.
So neither will gay divorce then or do you not believe in that either?
Of course it won’t because marriage isn’t natural.
What about the union between priests and altarboys? Is that natural enough for you too?
…or the natural union between a man and a man.
The natural union being the misters peepee in the lady’s vajayjay, right? Well obviously, like.
But the legal and civil union is for everyone :o)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tl-c_puzbM
And the pope can piss off and all.
Dón, would you be willing to fill the roll of Taoiseach for the time being? I like your style!
Go home oh foe, be a dear
The pope should go home but he can’t, he’s drunk and talking about poo he knows nothing about again
Fupp the church. In all its rebranding and promotion.
Have we been delivered from the Deadites? Did Ash find his boomstick? Will we all be dead by s
dawn?
Stupid typo!
I hope you watched Ash vs Evil Dead!
Don’t understand why we still listen to, debate, consider etc anything that comes out of this corrupt, fraudulent, self-serving, malevolen y institution. Not convinced we’re as liberated from the church as we like to believe.
G. L. E. N?
Once the schools are all secular then we won’t have to give a sheet about anything they say.
Not getting too Protestant about it but the CC are roughly 200 years behind socially and always have been. Sorry GLEN but there is no pension contributions to be gained from this sort of thing anymore so… just up-skill like the rest of us.
BS would be better off focusing on the Catholic Church (NI. Ltd.) and their political affiliations with the various Amish cults up there on LGBT issues?
They want the cohabitees and the divorcees in the pews putting the money into the collections (but not letting any magic wafer dead Zombie body parts touch their dirty living in sin tongues)
The quares can continue to fupp off.
All this insight gleaned from conversations with other clerics and strictly – vetted orthodox and compliant Catholic couples. The rest of us great unwashed held at a great distance for fear we might tell them something unpalatable. No matter…De wimmins are deserting the rotten set-up by the boatload. It’ll collapse soon enough.
Why are we listening to these irrelevant people? Their organisation claimed to have no money to pay its rape victims, and is now selling its landbanks to developers. They don’t exactly come with a strong background of moral authority.
I’m not listening to them. I don’t know about you.
What I do find extraordinary however is the amount of media coverage they get. Most of it uncritical too.
As Gore Vidal said democracy is when the people get what they deserve and they get it good and hard.
In fairness, North Korea doesn’t have a great deal of moral authority either, but what they say does get reported, too. It’s not, or shouldn’t be, the job of the media to only report the words of those judged to have moral authority.
Since you mention North Korea a question occurs: How many nuclear rockets has the Pope?
Probably the same amount as the North Koreans….. *BOOM*
Every Catholic is like a nuclear rocket aimed straight at heaven.
No, wait…
This sort of thing is best ignored because if they can’t even regard women as equal then there is no hope for the gays. I question GLEN’s motives here because it really is a lost cause. It may be a topic for those who are gay and practising Catholic but IMO they are a very small group with serious self esteem issues.
What is way more important is that Northern Ireland obtains equal marriage. And before anyone starts this is not a jurisdictional issue because it will require the Irish, Scots, Welsh and English all working together to push it over the line. And anyone else who is willing to lend a hand of course.
… https://youtu.be/j9TX9syyqnc