Today in Your Progressive Pope

[Content Note: Homophobia; clergy abuse; rape apologia.]

Today, Pope Francis is making BIG HEADLINES over his support for civil unions. Wow, right?! Pretty amazing! So what did he actually say?

"Marriage is between a man and a woman."

"The secular states want to justify civil unions to regulate different situations of living together, driven by the need to regulate economic aspects between people, like ensuring health care," he states, saying he can't identify the ways different countries are addressing the matter.

"We need to see the different cases and evaluate them in their variety," he states.

I would say that is way less enthusiastic and exciting than I expected reading headlines about Pope Francis endorsing civil unions, except that's pretty much exactly the milquetoast bullshit advertised by the media as Radical Progressive Popery that I've come to expect.

There was something in the interview whence came the Pope's thoughts on civil unions that I find rather noteworthy, despite the fact it's not getting a lot of media attention:

The interview contains some of the pope's only public words on the sexual abuse crisis, which continues to roil dioceses across the world. Asked about the subject, Francis replies: "I want to say two things."

"The cases of abuse are awful because they leave profound wounds," he states. "Benedict XVI was very courageous and has opened a way. On this way the church has done so much. Perhaps most of all."

"The statistics of the phenomenon of violence against children are staggering, but show clearly that the vast majority of abuse happens in the family setting and neighborhood," he continues.

"The Catholic church is maybe the only public institution to have moved with transparency and responsibility," he states. "No one else has done more. Yet the church is the only one to be attacked."

The Catholic Church has done "perhaps most of all" for victims of childhood abuse! And everyone is picking on the Catholic Church in spite of their transparency and responsibility (LOL FOREVER) even though their representatives don't abuse children nearly as much as other people!

This fucking guy.

If colluding with police to cover up sex crimes constitutes transparency, and blaming gay priests constitutes responsibility, I'd hate to see what a lack of transparency and responsibility looks like.