Pope Francis's comments on gays

An historic comment from Pope Francis on gay people that is historic in its ramifications. It has stirred a lot of comment, and I refer readers to William Lindsey's great blog, On Bilgrimage, for a very spirited discussion on this incident. But the moment I saw these comments, I recognized their historic importance, while also realizing there is not all that much a single Pope can do in resisting the corrupt and psychotic homophobia of the church, fostered under the two previous papacies. Yet this is a momentous start, for all of that. We must be grateful for small blessings and single steps forward. I also fear the repercussions for Pope Francis, in terms of his personal safety. Commentators at Bilgrimage are calling it the JPI disease, in reference to the  assassination by poison of Pope John Paul I, Albino Luciani. So this should be a stern warning to any of us who are impatient with the Pope and eager to push him beyond the limits of his office. We must be cognoscenti of the risks he would be taking. At any rate, his comments are a cause of joy - however tempered must be our reaction as the whole church and in particular his homophobic bishops react to the comments (largely by ignoring them).

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