BREAKING NEWS: POPE FRANCIS I - Jorge Mario Bergoglio - Argentina

[stepney]

Yes, this new Pope does seem a little popish to me. I don't like it. Smacks of popery, incense, black bread and wooden shoes.

BELATED WIGAN PIER KLAXON.

Ten points to you, sir.

[politicus]

Wow, that was rude...I'm right here. I didn't see whatever that was about the Argentine priests and don't particularly care. Things like contraception, abortion, and gay marriage are the chief issues I care about. There's not much in my life affected by the Pope, so the broad issues surrounding perpetuated bigotry at the cost of lives take precedence for me. Not all of us drink the Kool-Aid, so the bottom line is much appreciated.

As for abortion, gay marriage, and contraception, obviously whoever the new pope was would be against those.  The contraception ban will almost certainly fall in the next 30 years or so, but it won't be on a pope's first day, and it will probably be from a pope who had previously fallen in line on the issue.
Gay marriage will probably never come, but I would expect to see Episcopal-style gay blessings by the time we have a pope born in the 1980s or so. Regardless, we all knew what the new pope would think.
And the Church will probably oppose abortion 500 years from now, so it's not worth even wondering what any potential pope would think about it.

As a non-Catholic, could you help me out here? Why do you believe the hierarchy is moving slowly towards SSM and contraception, but not abortion?

Because lots of other similar-style Christians (Episcopals, Lutherans, etc.) have come around on contraception and are starting to move toward some kind of gay recognition.  None of them are changing their minds on abortion any time soon, though.

Maybe not in the US, but Lutheran churches in Europe are not anti-abortion (they dont have an official policy on the matter) and they form the majority of Lutherans. Mainline protestant churches having an official church policy on (almost) every sex related issue is mostly an American thing.

[Old Man Svensson]

Alright, I hate to intrude on conversation, but:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/pope-francis-supported-civil-unions-as-cardinal/

I figured this was worth sharing.

[7,052,770]

Alright, I hate to intrude on conversation, but:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/pope-francis-supported-civil-unions-as-cardinal/

I figured this was worth sharing.

OK, I'm officially 100% on board the Francis train.

[7,052,770]

Alright, I hate to intrude on conversation, but:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/pope-francis-supported-civil-unions-as-cardinal/

I figured this was worth sharing.

Funny how the Huffington Post is ignoring this.  Guess it doesn't fit their rabidly anti-Catholic agenda.  What a joke newspaper.

[minionofmidas]

Yes, this new Pope does seem a little popish to me. I don't like it. Smacks of popery, incense, black bread and wooden shoes.

BELATED WIGAN PIER KLAXON.

Ten points to you, sir.

As long as they aren't infraction points.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Nowt reported, so I think I'm safe.