So after giving him a pass on the whole military dictatorship thing... What about the fact that he believes what his church teaches? Namely, that women do not belong in the priesthood and gays should not be be allowed to marry each other or adopt children.
Well on the one hand, DUH. At this point in history, with *that* conclave of electorate, nobody pushing for radical change was going to become pope. It hardly seems fair to blame the Pope for well, being Catholic.
On the other hand, I have no sympathy for those whining about the media constantly bringing up those issues. Would it be nice if the press were a little more informed and educated about the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity in general. Well yea. But this is the thing-- The Roman Catholic Church wants to be a player in the secular world. The Vatican is a "country" after all. The Pope is a world leader. You wanna play in the big playground but play by your own rules you are going to get some pushback for that. So, no the Roman Catholic Church, nor Pope Francis, now it's Head and spokesman don't get a pass on that. As the rest of the world (and even most of their own members) sees nothing wrong with birth control and are willing to concede some instances where abortion is moral option, want to see women leaders in the church, favor gay rights and even marriage, these questions and critiques of the church are not going to go away. And nor should they.
Exactly. It is important that the RCC have defensible stands on these issues, and that they remain in dialogue with other opinions, but what can't be expected is that they will somehow magically have a "change of heart." What can, however, be advocated for is a well-reasoned change of mind—but of course, that will have to be well-reasoned in Roman Catholic terms.
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