Well, I think Jesus himself had something to say about this....
MATTHEW 7:6Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.Which is a sort of spiritual version of those sayings concerning tricks for old dogs, singing lessons for pigs or failing to force a horse to drink water. They won't change, they don't want to change. They're a remnant of the ancient Roman Aristocracy....they want their ritzy chauvinist "Boy's Club", complete with pretty young teen male pulchritude to get all pederast with.
Sure, the rituals, sacraments, devotions, feasts & such are nice. But the folks running the organization behind the faith are clearly in "Decadent Roman" mode and have been from from the beginning.
In a nutshell, good Roman Catholics should just dump the Vatican and find alternatives. Perhaps they can join & beef up the numbers of the various Liberal Catholic Churches or become Episcopalians/Anglicans.
And thank you for being there for me, Paragon.
And then they went backwards again!
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/10/18/catholic-church-already-walking-back-gay-friendly-message-vows-to-be-as-intolerant-as-ever/
Something tells me that the Pope doesn't have a say in anything. I always assumed he had more authority. Damned Archbishops! Why don't they ALL JUST DIE!!!
The Pope should just excommunicate them all!
Spuki, Bergoglio is not pro-gay. You're free to look up his comments back when Argentina was debating the legalization of same-sex marriage. He's smart enough that he knows that the Church is lagging behind society on the issue and they have to step up if they don't want to be completely irrelevant, but he's also smart enough to know that devout Catholics don't like gays and they are his key demographic, so to speak. The draft of the synodal document was a test of the waters to see the reaction to slightly more progressive language*. The reversal is part of that test. This sort of thing will likely continue into next year's Synod and probably the rest of his papacy.
This is not a case of a progressive Pope who wants to reform Catholic doctrine but those evil archbishops won't let him. This is a conservative Catholic who wants to look good to the world but still appease the other conservative Catholics that are the source of his power**.
*Speculation, yes. But I think it's pretty well justified, given the circumstances.
**Much like Earth's yellow sun for Superman or the hyphen for Shazam Wil-Wheaton Dowden-Patel.
Thank you, I realize now that Pope Francis is backwards, too. Sometimes I forget that. I'm sorry. Thankies for setting me straight, Sigster.