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Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2015 11:28 pm
by Anchor Moy
Seems the new appointment for French Ambassador is being blocked by the Vatican because he is gay.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 67874.html

Liberal Catholics’ hopes for a more progressive Church under Pope Francis have taken another knock with claims that the Pontiff has refused to accept France’s new choice of Ambassador to the Vatican because he is gay.

Laurent Stefanini, the openly gay diplomat at the centre of the row, was nominated as France’s ambassador to the Holy See by the country’s council of ministers on January 5. He should by now have filled the post left when Bruno Jouvert departed the position at the end of February.

But with the Vatican still failing to confirm officially that it has accepted the new ambassador, the French and Italian press are widely reporting that Mr Stefanini’s sexuality is behind his rejection.
...

The Italian media has been quick to remind Francis of his declaration last year: “If someone is gay... who am I to judge him.” But other commentators have noted that the Vatican, which has been hit by numerous lurid sex scandals of its own, has a bit of a history when it comes to blackballing diplomats from overseas on account of its squeamishness about homosexuality.

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 12:16 am
by Soi Dog
Maybe it's his being French that the Pope actually objects to.

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:12 am
by Anchor Moy
Soi Dog wrote:Maybe it's his being French that the Pope actually objects to.
That's possible. They could try appointing a non-French gay person to check out your theory.
(Not sure why they bother to appoint someone to the Vatican anyway, but it would be a very cushy number.)

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:56 am
by MekongMouse
Anchor Moy wrote:
Soi Dog wrote:Maybe it's his being French that the Pope actually objects to.
That's possible. They could try appointing a non-French gay person to check out your theory.
(Not sure why they bother to appoint someone to the Vatican anyway, but it would be a very cushy number.)
I would want hazard pay anyway, having to endure living at the HQ of the world's largest cult.

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2015 7:30 am
by Anchor Moy
MekongMouse wrote:
Anchor Moy wrote:
Soi Dog wrote:Maybe it's his being French that the Pope actually objects to.
That's possible. They could try appointing a non-French gay person to check out your theory.
(Not sure why they bother to appoint someone to the Vatican anyway, but it would be a very cushy number.)
I would want hazard pay anyway, having to endure living at the HQ of the world's largest cult.
Yeah, you have to live in a luxurious roman apartment and fight off all those Swiss Guards I guess. I'm not sure sure if all the ambassadors are lodged within the walls of the Vatican, considering it's quite a small space within the city of Rome. It seems that no wives or families of ambassadors live in the Vatican either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Vatican_City

The choice of a gay ambassador seems logical since they seem to be rather anti-women :
On February 26, 2013, Worldcrunch reported that there were around 30 women who are citizens of Vatican City

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:02 am
by MekongMouse
Anchor Moy wrote:
MekongMouse wrote:
Anchor Moy wrote:
Soi Dog wrote:Maybe it's his being French that the Pope actually objects to.
That's possible. They could try appointing a non-French gay person to check out your theory.
(Not sure why they bother to appoint someone to the Vatican anyway, but it would be a very cushy number.)
I would want hazard pay anyway, having to endure living at the HQ of the world's largest cult.
Yeah, you have to live in a luxurious roman apartment and fight off all those Swiss Guards I guess. I'm not sure sure if all the ambassadors are lodged within the walls of the Vatican, considering it's quite a small space within the city of Rome. It seems that no wives or families of ambassadors live in the Vatican either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Vatican_City

The choice of a gay ambassador seems logical since they seem to be rather anti-women :
On February 26, 2013, Worldcrunch reported that there were around 30 women who are citizens of Vatican City
I wonder how many children there are...

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 12:36 pm
by potty
woah... the true news is, that france even proposed a gay... jeez... what an insult...

being catholic rules out gay-friendly, except you would say that you dont take your religion all too serious...
so, cant be the pope... never...

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 12:20 am
by Anchor Moy
potty wrote:woah... the true news is, that france even proposed a gay... jeez... what an insult...

being catholic rules out gay-friendly, except you would say that you dont take your religion all too serious...
so, cant be the pope... never...
Apparently, not the first time France has proposed a gay ambassador to the Vatican. Seems a very suitable choice to me. It's not like he would be the only gay Catholic in town - and more importantly, he's not divorced !
If Stéfanini has been rejected because he is gay, it would not be the first time the Vatican has turned down a candidate for controversial reasons.

The Vatican dismissed reports in 2009 that it had rejected three possible US candidates for ambassador put forward by the Obama administration because they supported abortion rights. But there have been two occasions in the past 10 years when the Vatican has openly objected to candidates – one from Argentina, who was divorced and lived with his new partner, and another from France, who was gay and in a civil union with another man.

A Vatican source told the Catholic News Service in 2009: “For Catholic ambassadors, there is the question of their matrimonial situation. But outside of that, I don’t think there are other criteria.”

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 1:37 am
by MekongMouse
potty wrote:woah... the true news is, that france even proposed a gay... jeez... what an insult...

being catholic rules out gay-friendly, except you would say that you dont take your religion all too serious...
so, cant be the pope... never...
What if they appoint a pedophile? That would be more fitting, no?

Seruously though, France shouldn't have its hands bound by Catholic bigotry. If the Vatican wants to be respected as a serious country they should be willing to join the 21st century and let it go.

Re: Gay-friendly Pope, in theory, not in practice ?

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 12:26 pm
by Milord
Revoke sovereignty, It's just a bank laundromat anyway.