There’s something brewing in Germany. Again…
I was just going to post that, so this means a different cite:
Maybe they should start looking for a church door in Wittenberg.
Not many Catholics left in Wittenberg…
A fair clarification, and thank you. But, I suspect that the Church would say that having sexual thoughts/fantasies about someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse is a sin; if that’s accurate, it’d follow that the Church would also say that having homosexual thoughts is just as sinful.
On that, I absolutely agree.
But the symbolic value would make the trip worth it. In about the same way a U.S. state seceding and declaring independence on July 4th.
BTW:
Isn’t the sin regarding fapping related to Onan?
Because on reading that passage ISTM that the sin is coitus interruptus.
Much like a President being judged by his Supreme Court appointments, one might judge a Pope by the Cardinals he names. IANA Catholic and haven’t followed these appointees closely, but it seems like several of his high-visibility appointments (Wilton Gregory in D.C., Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of San Diego) lean more heavily into social justice and poverty issues, and while they support Catholic teaching on abortion and LGBTQ+ issues, they’re also a good deal more sympathetic to those most directly affected by those teachings, at least compared to their predecessors.
I think that he’s reforming the Church as quickly as it’s actually possible to do so. If the Pope were to come out and say “Homosexuality is no problem, and women can be priests”, and all the other things you might want from the Church, then you wouldn’t get 1.3 billion Catholics saying “Oh, well OK then”. You’d see a major schism in the church, with only a small minority following the Pope, while the rest declare him invalid. Any organization that large and with that much history is only capable of changing slowly, if at all.
All that said, I think that the Church’s position on transgenderism, in particular, is more nuanced than most outsiders realize, and I predict that we’ll see the first transgender male priest (i.e., born anatomically female but identifying as male) within a few decades. The Church’s current official position is that gender cannot change: That’s anti-genderfluid, but it is not anti-trans. There are plenty of people out there who will say that their gender has always been female, despite having been assigned male at birth, or vice-versa.
Indeed, having those thoughts even for your own spouse is a sin as well! Look up the church’s view of " marital chastity" sex without sexuality.
ISTM that the most important thing Catholic leadership should be doing is complete transparency on abuse, and they haven’t don’t that, not even close. If Francis isn’t pushing for that, and I don’t think there’s any reason to believe he is, then he’s failing his moral duty.
I’m not Catholic but hope Pope Francis can keep going a little longer since he likes the position. He’s got a few serious conditions but has an upbeat personality overall.
I suspect this won’t help him much:
I guess he’s not getting re-elected Pope.
No country has invaded the Vatican since Francis became Pope. They do have that Swiss Guard, and those guys have fancy knives, but the Pope always gets the credit.
The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, so “good job” has to be measured by what’s good for the Church, which often doesn’t align to justice or morality.
Outside of that definition I’m not sure there’s any useful definition of “good”. I will forever condemn Francis for siding with the genocidal oppressor Russia by asking Ukraine to reward Russia’s aggression with a surrender. His actions condemn large chunks of Ukraine to oppression and tyranny, and create the risk of an even more deadly war in the future. But he gets to wave his little fig leaf of “war is bad m’kay”, and maybe that’s as far as most of the RCC ever cares to consider the issue.
So, simliar to Mother Teresa and a bunch of other saints/popes, Francis is pushing horrible policies that do real harm in the world, but this has always been a feature of the Catholic church, so he’s not exactly an innovator in that space. For RCC’s purposes I guess he’s a perfectly good pope.
People say that the Sin of Onan is masterbation (spilling your seed) but if you read the story it was “pulling out”. However the real sin was disobeying God. Onan needed to impregnate his brother’s widow so the brother’s line would continue. Onan did not want to have a child that was considered his brother’s and not his so he committed the sin of not trying to impregnate his sister-in-law.
Maybe he thought God wanted to see the money shot.
It was, literally, a money shot. With a child, Onan’s family would be obligated to support the widow. Without a child, she was on her own, and certain to end up in poverty or slavery.
Not to excuse him, but he only has so much wiggle room with what he can suggest to people as policy. He’s just the head, and the neck (the rest of the Church) can turn him as they like to some extent.
There is politics in the Vatican and the choice of pope is not divinely inspired by god? Say it ain’t so!