Pope calls for same sex 'civil union' laws.

[Red Velvet]

This would of course be a backtracking in places like the US and much of Latin America, but in conservative Catholic societies elsewhere in the Global South and even in Italy itself it's a green light for a pretty significant step.

So yeah, this is a big f**king deal even given that the CDF or the Sala Stampa will probably play it down bigly.

ETA: America magazine (a source less given to stirring up controversy around Francis than CNA is) confirms.

Technically speaking yes, since I already can get married for 7 years at this point and the pope is defending only civil unions, not marriage. Also many advances happened legally in the last decade, such as the criminalization of homophobia and allowance for gay males to donate blood. If 10 years ago conservative agenda was focused on not letting gay civil unions pass (happened in 2011, marriage in 2013), nowadays the thing they talk about is reversing criminalization of homophobia because it affects their “religious freedom”.

So a lot has changed in a decade. However, this will certainly be good for those prejudiced people who still use religion as an argument to discriminate against homosexuals. If even the POPE disagrees with you, the argument that gays and Catholic values are not compatible becomes even more outdated and may make some few reflect on their positions, even if many conservatives will just attribute this happening only due to “this Papa being an infiltrated communist”.

But yes, it’s especially important for countries that are still yet to approve gay marriage or civil union. Italy and Poland are the first example that come to mind but it’s basically any country with a strong Christian influence.

[Red Velvet]

Good. But the peronist pope is still trash

I feel proud that the pope proposing so many socially progressive reforms for the Catholic Church is the first Latin American pope, I can’t understand how most Argentinians I see talking about him don’t feel a much larger sense of pride when he comes on the news, even considering political differences. I mean, it’s basically Argentina changing the world for better in some ways!

[Red Velvet]

Good. But the peronist pope is still trash

I feel proud that the pope proposing so many socially progressive reforms for the Catholic Church is the first Latin American pope, I can’t understand how most Argentinians I see talking about him don’t feel a much larger sense of pride when he comes on the news, even considering political differences. I mean, it’s basically Argentina changing the world for better in some ways!

The word "Peronist" in "Peronist Pope" goes some way towards explaining this, doesn't it? He has a long and checkered history in Argentinian domestic affairs that somebody on another "side" of Argentinian issues might very reasonably take exception to.

How does his “peronist” history in Argentina relates to his role and activities as the Pope though?

It’s just a general impression of mine that Argentinians in general love criticizing this pope and not necessarily it’s always because of politics. I’ve seen multiple different reasons to play his accomplishments down, one of them was that he wasn’t coming home because he was afraid of the reception, at the same time they said they didn’t care whether he came to visit or not hahaha. Almost as if he was regarded on a different and more negative standard from other popes precisely because he’s from Argentina, idk.