Really disgusting news from pope-land. I'll let Jerry Coyne
say it for me. This is from his post, "Pope Met Secretly with Kim Davis":
I have yet to see a mainstream American venue, like the New York Times or the New Yorker,
point out in an editorial the disparity between Francis’s words and his
actions (or rather, his inaction in changing repressive Catholic
dogma). Those who claim that Francis really is a liberal pope, committed
to changing Church dogma, but moving very slowly because that’s the
only way to do it, must explain this secret meeting with Davis as well
as his encouragement of her actions. If he really wanted the Church to
eventually deep-six its position on gays, the worst way to do it is to
provide succor for those who want to deny gays their legal rights.
The Pope is not liberal: he still opposes women’s equality, abortion,
and rights for gays. He won’t even mention population growth as a
factor causing degradation of the environment. At best his values are
those of a Reagan-era Republican. So let us not call the man “liberal”,
for while he gives lip service to Enlightenment values, he secretly
meets and encourages bigots like Kim Davis.
It
really was disgusting. I have no other word for the pope's actions.
And, in accordance with my longstanding suspicions, it turns out this
was his anti-gay trip. He just did it "secretly". Ha. Secret my ass. He
knew we'd learn all about it after he left the US. So it was not only
disgusting, it was cowardly.
UPDATE: The
gooey aftermath.
I don't buy it. The pope knew who Davis was and what she stood for. He
practically applauded her in his comments to reporters about
conscientious objectors. I figure the pope was trying to send smoke
signals to the conservative dingbat wing of the church, and got caught
in the act. What do you think?
