This issue is even involved in the Ukrainian conflict, as one of Putin's objections to the Ukrainian push to become part of the EU is the EU's promotion of the gay agenda. This of course doesn't make Putin right, but it underscores the prominent influence of this political agenda.
World Vision had a new policy on gays (That page shows what a hot topic it is too) , until some Christian leaders put pressure on them and they backed down. Won't be any surprise if after some time elapses we find them reinstating the policy.
And now we have this masterpiece of doubletalking Popespeak in a Newsmax Story [Later: Wondering why the Pope got such prominent treatment at Newmax, I looked up the publisher, and no surprise: he's a Catholic.]:
Pope: Church Should Tolerate Some Civil Unions
The Catholic Church could tolerate some types of civil unions as a way of protecting healthcare and property rights, Pope Francis said.Nearly incomprehensible Jesuitical gobbledygook here, suggesting that perhaps some important RC doctrinal change is in the works which is being tested before launching?
"Matrimony is between a man and a woman," the pontiff told the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview published Wednesday and translated by the Catholic News Service.
But moves to "regulate diverse situations of cohabitation [are] driven by the need to regulate economic aspects among persons, as for instance to assure medical care … It is necessary to look at the diverse cases and evaluate them in their variety."
Am I getting it that the Pope thinks the RC Church should tolerate homosexual sin under some circumstances? That's what "tolerating some types of civil unions" implies, isn't it? The focus here is all on the "civil union" in comparison with "matrimony" but what happened to the Biblical condemnation of homosexual acts as sin? Even the traditional RCC condemnation of homosexual acts as sin for that matter. That's not discussed at all. Just "diverse situations of cohabitation" whatever on earth that is supposed to refer to. And "the need to regulate economic aspects among persons..." All this pompous awkward language is obviously designed to HIDE the fact that the only context in which we ever discuss "civil unions" is the political push for gay marriage as a right. What "diverse cases" are there to consider? They're ALL about homosexual relationships.
...Francis also defended the church's response to the clerical sex abuse scandals.How many read such stuff and can't see through it? It's scary to think anyone could. Does "violence against children" convey the actuality of sexual molestation of children by RC priests? And he lies when he implies that Pope Benedict did anything but cover up the offenses, which many suspect is the reason he retired from the papal office. And if all that isn't enough lying, then he claims that statistics "show the great majority of abuses occur in family and neighborhood settings." Oh really? Well, maybe, if you mean the parish priest is the guilty party, the parish priest who visits the families. "The only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility?" Well, since no other public institution is guilty of molesting children that I know of, no other public institution has any reason to act transparently as the guilty institution ought, and the RCC has been shown over and over again to have covered up the crimes of their priests.
He said the crimes had left "very profound wounds," but noted that beginning with Pope Benedict, the church has done "perhaps more than anyone" to tackle the problem.
"Statistics on the phenomenon of violence against children are shocking, but they also clearly show the great majority of abuses occur in family and neighborhood settings," Francis said.
"The Catholic Church is perhaps the only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility. No one else has done more. And yet the church is the only one attacked."
KEEP IN MIND: It is the RC Church that has COMMITTED the crimes against children, sexual molestations of both boys and girls. And over and over it has been reported that priests guilty of these crimes have simply been moved to new parishes where their crimes are not known.
The RCC is guilty of covering up their OWN crimes. Transparency and responsibility? "No one has done more?" But who SHOULD do more?
Francis also brushed off those who believe he is a superhuman being. "To portray the Pope as a kind of superman, a type of star, strikes me as offensive. The Pope is a man who laughs, weeps, sleeps soundly, and has friends like everybody else. A normal person," he said.Um, Francis, you really need to read up on the official RCC doctrine of the papacy. You are "God on earth" and rightful ruler of the whole world. Oh I know you know that, you just don't want to let anybody else know it yet.