Gay people are supposed to be excited about this? Meh.

The headlines blare: "American gay Catholic group welcomed to Vatican". But then we learn the details:

For the first time ever, a delegation of American gay and lesbian Catholics were in the VIP seats at a public papal audience in the Vatican.
 
Pope Francis did not mention New Ways Ministry in his remarks Wednesday.

They were identified on the list of attendees only as a “group of lay people accompanied by a Sister of Loreto.”

From now on, when I go anywhere, I won't tell people beforehand that I'm gay. Instead, I'll just say that I'll be "accompanied by a Sister of Loreto". In the new code-speak, this apparently suffices as identification.

And then there's this:

“We didn’t get the shout-out, but we were very, very close,” DeBernardo told The Associated Press.

Uh-huh. And this excited you, eh? As I said above: meh. Anyway, I guess this means that gays are allowed to do Catholic things now -- as long as they remain invisible.

And this is supposed to be progress? I think not.