Bishops Declare Open War On The Pope As Too Soft On Homophobia

Bishops Declare Open War On The Pope As Too Soft On Homophobia

Pope Francis Visits SardiniaNone of us needs to be reminded of just how homophobic the U.S. Catholic bishops are. But the bishops clearly feel a refresher is in order for Pope Francis. In what is close to becoming an open revolt, the U.S. bishops are letting the pope know in no uncertain terms that they believe homophobia = Catholicism and that they are more Catholic than the pope.

And the pope is letting them know who’s the boss.

The bishops are gathering in Baltimore for their annual jamboree, and while their ostensible agenda is, in the words of one journalist, “sleep inducing,” the actual agenda is the battle brewing between the bishops and Pope Francis. Following the Vatican synod last month, many of the bishops are fuming that the pope is abandoning the hardcore homophobia that has been their bread and butter.

“Many of the U.S. bishops have been disoriented by what this new pope is saying and I don’t see them really as embracing the pope’s agenda,” said John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service, told the Associated Press.

And they’re not trying to hide their displeasure. Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, RI, said that the synod was “rather Protestant.” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, who won his position through homophobia, said that the synod created confusion about Church teaching and “I think confusion is of the devil.”

Raymond Leo BurkeNo one has been more hard core than Cardinal Raymond Burke (pictured below), formerly the flame-throwing archbishop of St. Louis, whom Pope Benedict appointed the equivalent of chief justice of the Vatican court system. Burke has gone so far as to say that the Church is risking a schism by moving “contrary to the constant teaching and practice of the Church.” What he’s really talking about is softening the Church’s stance on LGBT issues, even if actual policies don’t change.

Pope Francis sent the bishops a strong signal about where he stands by formally demoting Burke just two days before the bishops met. The pope busted Burke to the ceremonial position of protectorate of the Knights of Malta. The move was a brutal reminder of just who holds the power in the Church.

Some of the bishops have been trying to paper over the differences by madly spinning the press.

“What I heard and read, the real synod was divisive, confrontational, partisan, and dwelt only on same sex-marriage, cohabitation and divorce,” New York’s Timothy Dolan said Monday. “In fact it was plodding, even at times tedious, but it was a synod of consensus.”

Dolan is going to have to revisit that statement in the confessional, because it’s clearly untrue. The document that the synod originally floated was much more pro-gay. It was watered down because the conservative bishops, many of them from the U.S., blew a gasket. That’s not the definition of consensus.

The fact is, the landscape for the U.S. bishops has changed, and they don’t know how to deal with it.

“It used to be your career in the church could be advanced if you took a hard stance on issues,” the Rev. James Bretzke, a professor of moral theology at Boston College, told the Boston Herald. “Pope Francis wants people who are more bridge builders instead of bridge burners.”

That won’t stop the hard-core homophobes from taking a few more bridges with them before they go. They’re probably hoping that the pope is standing on one of them.

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27 Comments

  1. Max
    November 16, 04:59 Reply

    Hmmmnmmm.. Lemme wait for other comments…

  2. enigmous
    November 16, 05:47 Reply

    Interesting…I will like to see where this leads to. Hopefully the full story will come out very soon.

  3. Absalom
    November 16, 05:53 Reply

    LOL. What has the Pope said or done that is so “soft” on homophobia? Has the Church started wedding same-sex couples?

    • pinkpanthertb
      November 16, 05:54 Reply

      I tire.
      I just think its his generally more accepting stance on homosexuality that they find so galling

      • chestnut
        November 16, 07:59 Reply

        So how exactly do they want him to express homophobia? What is he required to do? What is he currently doing or not doing,that isn’t in line with what they want? I’ve never heard anywhere that he actually “endorsed” homosexuality. He basically says “leave judgement for God and Love ur neighbours like God said we should”. So is he now supposed to write/give homophobic speeches each week? Or is he supposed to assembly a secret police and go from house to house,seeking to arrest and kill gay people? What exactly do they want him to start doing now? I’m so confused…

        • pinkpanthertb
          November 16, 08:07 Reply

          To stop saying the House of God is welcome to us gay lot to come as we are, I suppose.

  4. Kryss S
    November 16, 06:10 Reply

    I wouldn’t be surprised if d Pope develops a strange illness or dies in his sleep soon! Those cardinals can b very brutal, dangerous nd evil when stepped on!

    • pinkpanthertb
      November 16, 06:14 Reply

      You’d think that with the kind of profession they’ve chosen, they’d be more Christ-like. smh

      • Kryss S
        November 16, 07:21 Reply

        Christ-like indeed Pinky! Christianity is a thing of the mind nd not by d physical oh! Only God knows who worships him in truth nd spirit. From time immemorial, d Cardinals have being known to do worst things than the worst pagans ever known/recorded!

  5. Ace
    November 16, 07:00 Reply

    The earlier people understand that LGBT and Christianity with always be at opposing sides of the pole, the better for them. Right now, i really care less of what the church. If dem gree hmmm, if dem no gree hmmm.

  6. Dennis Macauley
    November 16, 07:59 Reply

    Who has seen “Borgia”?

    Watch it to see how these people roll!

    They are brutal

    • pinkpanthertb
      November 16, 08:08 Reply

      I have. And yes, these Vatican heads can be mean sonofabitches

    • Absalom
      November 16, 09:08 Reply

      Yeah. I saw one season of “The Borgias”.

      Read Mario Puzo’s novel, “The Family”. About same Borgias.

      • Chuck
        November 16, 14:35 Reply

        you know those things are fifction, yeah? They’ve been sensationalised.

  7. gad
    November 16, 10:38 Reply

    Christ remains the head of His body, the Church. I might not understand all the inner workings in the roman catholic church but I know that it’s very democratic in its decisions. The Pope is a cardinal only chosen by other cardinals so whatever decisions reached amongs the college of cardinals is arrived at democratically and not vetoed. My amusement stems from the fact that these Bishops are western and not African… However, whatever comes or goes, I still see the Roman Church as very disciplined,intelectual and honest. One church,one faith,one Lord

    • Dubem
      November 16, 11:03 Reply

      Disciplined. Intellectual. Honest. Lol. OK. Dude be trying so hard to convince all y’all.

  8. Dom
    November 16, 13:57 Reply

    For their annual jamboree? Bia nwa, chukwu gaha eji glue ñachie gi onu.

    • gad
      November 16, 15:23 Reply

      Let’s just assume that words like synod, convention,retreat, etc escaped the writer,s memory at the time he/she was writing this.

  9. tinocompadre
    November 16, 14:42 Reply

    To think that this same people are the ones who secretly abuse young boys…
    Until the Pope sanctions flogging someone at the confessional that is when they will realise that we are no longer in Vatican 1

  10. Khaleesi
    November 16, 20:37 Reply

    You cannot begin to fathom the immensity of the fuck that i dont give about the bigotry of this bunch …. ***yawn****

  11. Legalkoboko
    November 16, 22:34 Reply

    For these people, it’s ok to be gay as long as you aren’t honest about it. They vast majority of the US priests are gay. The priesthood there is so gay now that straight guys don’t just want to get near. There is a big vocation crises there now: only gay guys turn up at seminaries.
    Yet, there Bishops (many of them gay ) define themselves by their homophobia.

    This is part of the reason why I keep away from churches nowadays. The level of hypocrisy is simply lethal.

    • pinkpanthertb
      November 17, 03:10 Reply

      Hush Legal. Speak not so about the Roman Catholic church. Gad says it is disciplined, intellectual and HONEST.

      • gad
        November 17, 03:52 Reply

        I was Referring to the church as an institution and not to a few individuals in the church

      • Legalkoboko
        November 17, 10:41 Reply

        gad, a few individuals okwia?
        If you think the mess in all the churches (not just the Catholic church ) is the fault of “a few individuals”.I will advise you to wake up now before that dream turns to a nightmare.

        • pinkpanthertb
          November 17, 12:09 Reply

          But of course ‘the church’ is separate from ‘a few individuals’. Let it not be said that the they are one and the same. Lol

        • gad
          November 17, 15:38 Reply

          Thank God that one has the choice to either accept or take an advise. I prefer to continue in my dream… * snoring heavily *

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