Pope Francis attacks SSM

[politicus]

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/pope_francis_says_gay_marriage_threatens_to_disfigure_god_s_plan

Was not expecting this, given his previous concillatory statements toward gays...

Why put this on USG?

But yes, at bit surprising. It seemed like an issue he wanted to tone down.

[politicus]

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/pope_francis_says_gay_marriage_threatens_to_disfigure_god_s_plan

Was not expecting this, given his previous concillatory statements toward gays...

Why put this on USG?

SSM and religion are only issues in the United States

Joke?

[politicus]

He has previously describe gay marriage as the work of Satan, so it's hard to see why people are surprised/dissapointed by this. A terrible view of course (and probably very offensive to the countless homosexuals who have fought for equal rights), but one that is to be totally expected from the Catholic Church.

The surprising thing is not that he has that view, but that he emphatized it so relatively strongly. It seemed he was trying to tone down the anti-gay sentiment and lay low on the gay marriage issue.

Being in the Phillippines may have influenced his choice of words, but they obviously knew that Western media would pick up on this. While the Catholic church has strongly felt theolgically based opinions on this they also know it is a losing issue in the West (and parts of Latin America) and there is a political dimension to the issue as well.

[politicus]

It is a "winning issue" in many, many other parts of the world, though, particularly where the Church is seeing growth.

Sure, but the Western world is central to financing the church  + Europeans are massively overrepresented in church leadership - my impression is that while they want to expand in Africa/Asia there was a genuine attempt to tone down some of the most divisive social issues (though of course not abortion) in order to stop or delay the bleeding in Western countries.