And yet none of that has been verified by the vatican, and seemingly somewhat refuted by their own press release…
Whatever, I have no dog in this fight, I’m not Christian or Catholic. /shrug 
I just think its interesting that both sides can and do spin this to their benefit. Obviously the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Didn’t the pope already de-bishop some racist blowhards recently?
I wonder if he would be so holy as to expunge the meddling, politically motivated bishops that his administration is implying perpetrated this blind-siding?
I’m not religious but I must admit a certain amount of glee when the dude (always a dude) in charge of a major world religion takes his appointment as seriously as he is supposed to, which all of the power-mongers in said religion have gotten so used to the dude in his position absolutely not doing.
But but but, it’s like an unwritten law that we get to pull shennanigans!
I absolutely stand by my previous statements that the pope is a fantastic guy, really likeable, interesting and multi-faceted… and he is at the helm of one of the longest-standing institutions that has wrought inequality, bigotry, suffering and death upon countless billions of humans for millennia, up to the present day in which the church has still not properly dealt with the child molesters among its ranks.
In the Star Wars cartoon series, which was excellent, Palpatine’s character was developed more fully. On one side, he was an incredibly likeable guy, conciliatory, wise, ready to negotiate and lead the Senate. On the other side, and even without turning back into the wrinkle-faced emperor, he was a conniving, backstabbing, traitorous, evil hatemonger who worked tirelessly for the Dark Side.
So, I’m just going to start calling him Francis Pope-atine. Because it’s true. We don’t get to see the lightning from his fingertips until after Darth Trumper has cut off Obama Skywalker’s hand and YodaBernie has been banished to Dagoba.
While I love to hate on fundamentalist bigots and hyprocrits (and I do), if we want to have a discussion about who was really on fleek for LGBT issues during the Papal visit, let’s lift up an American leader: Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, who said this on Independence Mall just before the Pope’s speech…
He’s an eloquent speaker. Thanks for sharing that.
I like him more than the Pope. Mayor Nutter isn’t representing a legacy of hate and exclusion with a front of nice words and appearances of kindness.
Yes, and it’s a perfect analogy, too.
Talking with a Chatholic friend of mine. The Pope’s word is infallable and unquestionable /ONLY/ when very specific conditions are set forward and that sort of thing is done very excruciatingly rarely. Outside of those instances he is merely The Pope, who’s words are just as fallable as mine or anyone else’s.
Oh, it must be the Pope’s. We’ve already established he’s the head of a church that 1/6 of the world’s people belong to. He’d be a pretty crap shepherd if he didn’t micro-manage the hell out of that flock.
No no no, you don’t understand. When he met with KD – it was a calculated political move vetted by his office. When he met with everybody else it was run-of-the-mill happenstance.
Heck, my parents had a “private” audience with the pope (JPII) back in the early 90s – them and about 140 others “met” privately in a large hall. No vetting that I can recall.
Let us also forget this is a myth.
I don’t know about myth, it’s just more complicated than that.
If Francis wants to show that he truly represents change he should not only forcefully condemn Davis’s bigotry and hatred, everyone connected with bringing her into his presence should be dismissed. Otherwise, he’s just anther snake oil salesman trying to soften the image of a truly horrid and reactionary institution.
Yeah, but what’s new? He has no motive to buck the current ethos.
charlie pierce at esquire definitely arees with the idea that ratzinger supporter vigano set this up. vigano attended a rally opposing marriage equality that had kim davis’ lawyer as one of the speakers.
i find it quite believable that one of many in the hierarchy who think the current pope is going too far outside the lines might do this.
DISH DISH DISH!
It was “private” only when compared to a public motorcade, he says “stay strong” to pretty much everybody, and the only person who said he “praised her courage” was Davis, who was demonstrably lying about several things. I’m with several posters above: I think the Pope had no idea who she even was, and someone lower down the totem pole put her in the meet’n’greet line to score points with US conservatives.
