I like his views towards the lgbt community. Especially, i grew from a christian community :icon_bigg
I was shocked when I heard about it. We Catholics are more notorious for gay bashing than most religions.. (Aside from the Middle Eastern Abrahamic religions)
I don't give a flying fuck about religion, whatever they think about us, or however nice they make their prejudice sound.
I'm a bit torn on this one. On the one hand, I don't care about the Pope Francis thing. He didn't actually say anything nice about gay people which might have endeared him to me, he just said "Who am I to judge them?" - which is quite right. Who is he to judge us? Recognising our basic human rights isn't the same as being an ally. On the other hand, he has more influence in some communities than he deserves, so it's possible that his words may get through to some people and decrease Catholic homophobia. Or he'll offend enough people that the Vatican will be overthrown. Either one of those outcomes is good with me.
It's a step in the right direction, but he's not exactly an 'ally'. He's against gay marriage and adoption by same sex couples (I believe he called it child abuse?)
I am hopeful after what he said. Yeah, it might not seem like much to outsiders, but it's surely a huge blow to any Catholic gay-bashers. I really would like to stay Catholic since I identify strongly with the social justice message. The Church is not a monolith; I like that it has liberal, moderate, and conservative members. It was only a few decades ago that the Church was strongly anti-divorce; now, there are sponsored support groups for divorced people. But, the current position of celibacy for gays is hardly viable for most people.
Yes, yes but still. It's better for him to say that, then to say that we are monstrous creatures that rose from the depths of hell isn't it?
I think a lot of gay people (and others who are passionate about an issue) can fall into the "you're with us or against us" dichotomy, using a kind of checklist to decide if someone is acceptable or not. It's unfortunately part of human nature to box people into such categories, but that natural tendency can be overcome.
Oh yes, it's definitely a breath of fresh air after previous popes - although as Illusion pointed out, he's still a complete homophobe even though he said this. I appreciate the difference his words stand a chance of making, but I just don't think that the words themselves were particularly remarkable. Unlike Desmond Tutu's recent words, which would instantly make an impression on anyone who heard them. Now him, I respect.
I'm very surprised that the pope said that. While it certainly isn't any form of support, it is at least a neutral stance which is rather unprecedented for the leader of the Catholic church... This actually may end up having a positive effect on my life too. My mom is a devout Catholic and she is constantly worried about me "going to hell." So the church's neutral stance may help her come to terms with things more easily.
You do realise all he said was he wouldn't judge gay people if they want to be part of his religion. The part that seems to go unreported is that at the same time he reaffirmed that 'gay acts' are still a sin, and that gay people shouldn't lobby for equal rights. He isn't any more of an ally than his predecessors were. This is literally the exact same stance that the last two popes had.
An extremely homophobic Catholic on Facebook posted that and then said he agreed. I think whatever he says they'll listen to and agree with. I don't get it, but right now that's good I guess.