LGBT News Pope Francis wants church to study gay marriage

Maybe I'm too optimistic, but many peoples' opinion is that gayness is a choice. A study by the church (as long as it's valid) would convince many that it is natural and marriage should not be forbidden.

 

I don't think we'll ever be happy with the Catholic Church's position on homosexuality, but I'm grateful that Pope Francis is running the show. I don't have any confidence that they're about to do a 180 and start marrying gay couples, but I like that he's trying to spread the Bible's real message of love and non-judgment rather than the completely bastardized message that's used by so many people to justify hatred. It's refreshing to see that he's willing to at least question some of these ridiculous positions.

It's not enough, but it's a start.

 

What he said.

 

It seems to me that Pope Francis is pro-gay but he can't just decide on his own that gay marriage is suddenly approved by the church, it seems like he is trying to gradually make the church more gay friendly

 

Here's the problem though, there's been many, many studies done in that area and people who are homophobic have chosen to instead ignore said studies and continue to peddle their "gay lifestyle is a choice" bullplop and many people have gone along with that.

So what's stopping those people from ignoring a study conducted by the Catholic Church even if it's the best one ever conducted and Freud & Jung rise from their graves just to give it their seal of approval? Maybe some wavering people might go with it, but I doubt it'll have that much of an effect.

I'd much rather see the Catholic Church, if the Pope is serious about accepting LGBTI folk for who they are and not demanding we restrict ourselves in our personal conduct, openly and vigorously challenging homophobia both within it's own walls and out in the real world. Not conducting studies and research into things we already know.

 

Study? What's there to study? Obviously the reasons that drive marriages. And what will happen once the church leaders reports to him the reasons found in a marriage between a man and a women? They'll only find love, compassion, and see that marriages between two people of the same sex is obliviously no different than that of a marriage between a man and a woman. I don't see why this 'study' is being conducted, but maybe it will do some good.

 

Nononono. If the pope declares full support there will be a schism. Avignon will hold the papacy yet again. Nothing can reach the heart steeled with prejudice, but what about those who simply haven't thought? A study by the church will force those to look at something they have always ignored, and it may sway them. If enough are swayed any dissenting homophobes will be a minority. He will not risk such a radical move. He already has enough old lights mad at him as it is.

 

"To study" the act of gay marrage sounds pretty odd to me. But, whatever method they use, it has the potential for a positive outcome, or a negative outcome. I really don't care what the pope has to say, but it sounds like he (and I use this term very loosely) "may" know what he's doing. Also, if he accepts gay marrage as valid in the future, maybe other people will turn over a new leaf also! That, or they'll just leave the Catholic faith entirely.

 

I think the person who coined that term to be put into their religious literature and P.O.V. is the one, or are the ones, who are the MOST "intrinsically disordered."

 

To me, this is the pope saying: "Even though the Catholic Church has always claimed to understand homosexuality well enough to make moral judgments about it, we really don't know enough." That fits with his "who am I to judge attitude." He seems like he legitimately considers homosexuality to be something morally ambiguous, given the information available.

Obviously I disagree with that, but "let's find out if homosexuality is OK" is much better than "I already know homosexuality is wrong."

Pope Francis doesn't deserve any wild praise for his humanitarian insight here. But progress from backwards to maybe-less-backwards is still progress, so I'm pleased about this.

 

Agreed! Pope Francis is my favorite pope so far because he's fixing problems with the Catholic Church that turned me off to it. I hope that they will go into this study with an unbiased mind as possible, and realize that gay marriages will share a lot of similarities with straight marriages.

 

I think it will be like "Would Jezus be ok with this thang tho?"
And like "Will the holly spritit not get angry on us dawg?"
Or "Will God bless their weddings?"

 

Pope John Paul 1 was known to be accepting and tolerant but never even got started on implementing any reforms within the Catholic Church. Great pity really. Seems to me that Francis is trying to pick up some of those loose reigns 36 years later! Long overdue too.

 

See, I knew there was a reason I liked this guy. I don't by any means think he's saying that gay marriage is fine and wonderful and acceptable - frankly that's too optimistic - but he *is* saying that the Church doesn't know enough yet to really make a judgement. Which is way more than I ever would have expected. And a lot of homophobic people do rely on Church teachings in their arguments, so study outcomes they would have otherwise ignored, they may actually pay attention to *because* it's sponsored by the Church.

This has a lot of potential, both positive and negative. I'm hoping for the former. And I'm really happy that this is happening at all.

 

It seems like to is trying to get people to warm the issue and reduce opposition steadily, as the Pope would require unprecedented widespread support for any approval of gay marriage.

Alternatively it could be a PR stunt with little to no substance that is trying to to make religious organisations look like they are changing with the times.

I do hope its the former rather than the latter.

 

Just as a huge ocean liner cannot manuever quickly, neither can the Church to do so would risking a schism, and a liner capsizing. The Church has be as sure of itself as it can be when reversing itself on a position. Logically, it's standing on abortion and capitol punishment are tied together, whether or not you agree is emotional. It's stand on gay issues will be the same. If sex before marriage is a sin for those who are straight it will be for us as well. The Church will research this to the extent that it can, but it is concerned with its reputation and its believers. So the wheels will turn slowly.

Perhaps, this hits us on an emotional level, our perspective is skewed. As Americans, we're used things being done quickly. Corporations are made to quickly recall their mistakes. We have no 2000 year old religious institutions with a vast worldwide membership of believers. The pope has to deal with beliefs, not product. Now is not possible.

I applaud Francis's move and am thrilled to see it.

 

I honestly think is possible that he already supports LGTB in his mind, but cannot act his mind yet. Inthat case he is manaining his role while pulling the strings and being a patient strategist. In other words, this 'lets inspect gay marriage' is just a way of making his followers really pay attention to LGTB with non-judgementsl eyes.

I cannot be sure this is true, but is some suspiciton thst came to my mind.... Who knows... At least is a nice thought.

 

I cannot take anything positive from this. He sounds like he is simply trying to play to the liberal side, whilst keeping the many conservative Catholics.
Honestly, I doubt everything this Pope does after he finalized plans to visit Uganda for their celebration of the 50 Ugandan "martyrs" that refused gay sex. If he was supportive of LGBT rights, he wouldn't grace that country, especially not attend a party thrown in an anti-gay spirit. He won't be going to speak out against Uganda's laws, for sure.
Sorry, Pope Francis. I respect you somewhat, but I dislike you. This doesn't sound all that great. The study is being done by the Church, not a neutral party, so naturally the results will have a bias to them. Bias should be avoided in research. It definitely won't be in this case.