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Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio elected Pope Francis I

Mark Kamill

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Gotcha, so its more like they're trying to purge out the older crowd to allow some breathing space for some progressive thinking. I guess it makes sense, but I do wonder if a Conclave least influenced by John Paul is a good thing. I guess we'll see in the future.
 

TRIFORCE89

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Gotcha, so its more like they're trying to purge out the older crowd to allow some breathing space for some progressive thinking. I guess it makes sense, but I do wonder if a Conclave least influenced by John Paul is a good thing. I guess we'll see in the future.
Yeah, I just said change. Don't know if its good change or bad change. Progressive or not. Wouldn't count on it. I just don't think they want to be tied down to one Pope for so long.
 

Sir Codin

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Okay, from what I'm reading on Wikipedia on his stances, I can't tell whether or not this will be a case of "the more things change, the more they stay the same."
 

TRIFORCE89

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Okay, from what I'm reading on Wikipedia on his stances, I can't tell whether or not this will be a case of "the more things change, the more they stay the same."
The Church's stances are the Church's stances. For them to change would undermine the religion's perceived legitimacy. Supposedly. Outside of a Vatican III occurring, I wouldn't expect any sweeping changes.

And even then, of the large issues that people seem to focus on... gay marriage, abortion, priests getting married, female priests, contraceptives... I think priests getting married and female priests would be most likely to change. Followed by contraceptives to lesser extent.

I wouldn't expect the Church's position on abortion to ever change since they see life starting for conception. Nor gay marriage since the purpose of religious marriage is to procreate and they don't look kindly upon that being separated (they're not fond of in vitro fertilization either, for instance. They're fine with adoption as a solution/alternative to abortion primarily).
 

Mark Kamill

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Priest getting married I'm okay with, considering how the Eastern Orthodox allows for it and its actually something I thought was universal, but female priests is honestly something that will take some more time, perhaps not in our life time. The church is still too rooted into the ways of old, and the gender roles are still one of the most prominent things in it. But this is neither the topic nor the place to discuss that.
 

TRIFORCE89

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Priest getting married I'm okay with, considering how the Eastern Orthodox allows for it and its actually something I thought was universal, but female priests is honestly something that will take some more time, perhaps not in our life time. The church is still too rooted into the ways of old, and the gender roles are still one of the most prominent things in it. But this is neither the topic nor the place to discuss that.
Still probably more likely than other changes XD

Catholic priests used to be able to get married. So, the Church changed it once. They can do it again.
 

Dreg

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An Argentinian pope, eh? This is truly the hand of God. (If you know what I mean)

I'd like to see how Francis I does, I think he might be a good pope.
 
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He's exactly what the Church doesn't need. Incredibly anti-gay and dogmatic, and has some baggage he brings with him to the office just like his predecessor, except Francis wasn't in the Hitler Youth.
 

Morkula

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Face it - you weren't going to get a liberal pope that supported gay marriage, contraception, or the like. The cardinals were all appointed by John Paul and Benedict and therefore share the same conservative views - which are the official views of the church itself.

That said, even though I'm not Catholic, I'm interested in seeing how Francis does. He's already conducting himself totally differently from Benedict, and he seems to be really into social justice and helping the poor - which I'm really happy with. We'll have to see how his papacy turns out.
 

TRIFORCE89

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He's exactly what the Church doesn't need. Incredibly anti-gay and dogmatic.
Well, it isn't a popularity contest. The teachings of the Church are the teachings and they aren't going to change. If a religion can change its dogma, then what exactly is the point of it? Not saying I wouldn't like to see them adapt, but I'm not really expecting them to and not surprised that they won't

What can change, although may not necessarily change under Francis, are traditions (like when we ditched the no meat on Fridays thing). Things that are symbolic.
 
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Well, it isn't a popularity contest. The teachings of the Church are the teachings and they aren't going to change. If a religion can change its dogma, then what exactly is the point of it? Not saying I wouldn't like to see them adapt, but I'm not really expecting them to and not surprised that they won't

What can change, although may not necessarily change under Francis, are traditions (like when we ditched the no meat on Fridays thing). Things that are symbolic.

But antiquated & backwards stances towards just about everything important these days needs to change. Adapt or die. Or they risk becoming an afterthought in some ares of the world already trending away from high religiosity.
 
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I don't think he's anti-gay and dogmatic. He doesn't want to rock the boat much, but he's gotten some good press about his private views. It took a whole term for Obama to come out on same-sex marriage. Do you think his views actually "evolved"? Now the Church is a super conservative organization and it's hard to change anything. But he has broken tradition, at least symbolically, in his first few days. Perhaps that's just him trying to maneuver himself into a good position before he starts a civil war within the Church? I say give him some time, things may change. And if they don't, he is still only a man.
 
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I don't think he's anti-gay and dogmatic. He doesn't want to rock the boat much, but he's gotten some good press about his private views. It took a whole term for Obama to come out on same-sex marriage. Do you think his views actually "evolved"? Now the Church is a super conservative organization and it's hard to change anything. But he has broken tradition, at least symbolically, in his first few days. Perhaps that's just him trying to maneuver himself into a good position before he starts a civil war within the Church? I say give him some time, things may change. And if they don't, he is still only a man.


He called gay marriage a "destructive attack on God's plan."

More goodies in the link. So until he changes course, that's his stance, and therefore the churches stance.
 

TRIFORCE89

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He called gay marriage a "destructive attack on God's plan."

More goodies in the link. So until he changes course, that's his stance, and therefore the churches stance.
And as Cardinal, it has been reported that he once said "I'm in favor of gay rights and in any case, I also favor civil unions for homosexuals, but I believe that Argentina is not yet ready for a gay marriage law".

The last bit is unfortunate, but still... hey civil unions at least. Which kinda comes back to separation of Church VS. State.
 
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So until he changes course, that's his stance, and therefore the churches stance.

I don't think it's fair to demonize and polarize him. It's his public stance, as he is a public persona, but he may be a good person on the inside. And I think it's unfair when people dehumanize public officials because of their "line". If anything he's not even worth caricaturing because he isn't extremist nor has he done anything crazy like Bush.

That being said, yeah, he might not turn out to do anything for same-sex marriage. I do approve him calling for a "church for the poor" though. Even if he can't satisfy everything we'd want to see, I'm willing to take the good with the bad.
 
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