Pope Francis, Another Zealot?
Homosexuality is still a sin. He tells people to respect homosexuals, but whent the Argintinian government is going to make sam-sex marriage legal he says, "Let's not be naive, we're not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."
During his early life he gave up all his fancy posetions (personal cook, facy place to live, chauffeured limo) and made a pledge of poverty. This sounds awefully noble right? Wrong, look at why he had those things to start out with (because he was a cardinal). Think about what the Bible verson of Jesus would have done. He probably wouldn't have even considered giving those things out to preachers of his word anyway. So denying riches should be something that cardinals and popes HAVE to do an shouldn't be praised for. By the way, the pledge of poverty meant that he just had to live like everyone else in the community (what a saint -- sarcasm)
Lastly, there was a criminal complaint filed against him by a human rights lawyer for the abduction of two Jesuit priests. However, there was no evidence to prove that he had anything to do with it. :)
Please leave your thoughts and comments on the new pope
Tags: argentina, atheism, catholic, christian, church, corruption, francis, pope, power, religion, More…
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on -
@Heather - Jesus did not say this. It’s from St. Augustine. His Letter 211 (c. 424) contains the phrase Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum, which translates roughly to "With love for mankind and hatred of sins." The phrase is being re-interpreted as "hate the sin and not the sinner".
It's what they have always done, cherry pick and twist texts, re-interpret ad nauseum. Nothing will change with the new pope, the old pope saw shite coming at him from every direction, and when the general population of countries like Australia, want marriage for gays, complete and total equality in all laws, the church is against it, just one of the reasons people are leaving in droves.
The next problem is going to be, they will not be able to get enough young men into the order. Where are they going to get young men, who want celibacy?????
As MikeLong said the more conservative the pope the better. And that is what they will get.
They will still hate those sirens, who make the priests lose all control, they will hate gays, they will condemn abortion and contraception, they will continue to live in luxury, they will continue to hide pedophiles. Nothing will change.
And as Heather said, he's the head honcho of the longest running, continuous game of make believe, AND they are the wealthiest.
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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on -
@ Suzanne
Actually, trying to make gays ashamed plays right into recruiting new priests. When a young man confesses to homosexuality, the priest advices celibacy. I know a young fellow who was counseled 'into the work' so that a life of piety would allow him to resist temptation. He was actually made to believe that praying and baking bread all day would eliminate his sexual desires. The trouble was that all the other monks at the monastery were gay as well and were chasing their new young recruit like wolves on a lamb.
I had a cousin who I knew was gay but my family refused to acknowledge it. He never came out and eventually went off to the seminary to become a priest. I seriously think that almost every priest and monk have chosen that life because they've been made to feel ashamed of their sexuality. It's no wonder there are so many pedophiles there.
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Permalink Reply by Real Life James Bond on -
Woah, perhaps you would like to revise that last part "it's no wonder there re so many pedophiles" because it sounds like you're saying they are pedophiles because they are gay. Statistics show that a gay man is at no greater risk of sexually abusing a minor (male) as a straight man.
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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on
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Woah, take it easy. I wasn't saying the gay priests were converting to pedophilia. I was saying that the church creates a situation that recruits those who've been made to feel ashamed of their sexuality by suggesting a life 'in the work' will subdue their sexuality. Now, that considered, it's no wonder there are so many pedophile priests. <- does that read better?
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Permalink Reply by Real Life James Bond on
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Ok, I was a little worried for a second. That makes much more sense :)
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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on
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Aside from recruiting those with negative views of their own sexuality, though, I do feel that attempted celibacy distorts sexual development. This is purely my own opinion and I have nothing to back it up - but I am not clinging to this belief in spite of any evidence to the contrary.
I do believe that young men entering into vows of celibacy risk stunting the development of their sexuality - a sexuality that in most cases is already distorted by negative feelings about sexuality itself. This is my best guess as to why the Catholic church seems to end up with such an incredibly high number of pedo priests.
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Permalink Reply by Real Life James Bond on
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I think that's a pretty good guess and I would agree with you.
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Permalink Reply by Professor Robert on -
@Heather, can you explain why you feel there is "such an incredibly high number of pedo priests"? There has been high profile press exposure, but doing the math on incident rate would not support that conclusion.
I do think you make some valid points that have been brought out in studies of Catholic seminaries in the U.S. but which are echoed worldwide. There is a significantly higher than average rate of homosexuality and (separately) psycho-sexual issues at present. So the hypothesis that the life attracts those with distorted sexual development may be supported.
This is a topic of internal conversation within the faith, because there is also evidence to suggest that this is a serious contributor to the loss of more normative recruits to the priesthood.
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Permalink Reply by Heather Spoonheim on
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Doing what math? You've suggested that systemic cover-up and propagation of child sexual abuse is just a normal thing that goes on anywhere that services are offered to children.
I realize such things may seem normal if you went to a Catholic school - but I assure you that most children are not raped at school. Could you please indicate what numbers you are using to support your premise that sexualization of children is no more common in Catholic youth programs than secular youth programs.
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on -
Doing what math?
I'm curious about that as well. I was curious how well the Catholic Church in America would stack up against the BSA in this regard, but it seems problematic to deal with either group unless good data is available.
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on -
To become a member of a major police force, one must undergo extensive psychological testing - shouldn't that also be applied to priests?
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Permalink Reply by Real Life James Bond on
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Good thought, it would discourage pedophiles from joining.
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