Poop on the Pope

[Guest zipperzone]

The New York Times reported today that the Vatican has confirmed that the Pope while in Washington arranged to have a 15 minute meeting with none other than Kim What's-her-name during which he hugged her, gave her & her husband each a rosary and told her to keep up her good work in refusing to obey the law and continue to follow her beliefs and refuse to give marriage licenses to same sex couples.

The bitch isn't even a Catholic!

How can he be excused for coming to another country and encouraging it's citizens to disobey the laws of said country? Who the fuck does he think he is? The Pope? Oh right - he is the Pope.....

If he is going to shit disturb, maybe he should just stay home?

[MsAnn]

The New York Times reported today that the Vatican has confirmed that the Pope while in Washington arranged to have a 15 minute meeting with none other than Kim What's-her-name during which he hugged her, gave her & her husband each a rosary and told her to keep up her good work in refusing to obey the law and continue to follow her beliefs and refuse to give marriage licenses to same sex couples.

The bitch isn't even a Catholic!

How can he be excused for coming to another country and encouraging it's citizens to disobey the laws of said country? Who the fuck does he think he is? The Pope? Oh right - he is the Pope.....

If he is going to shit disturb, maybe he should just stay home?

I'm guessing you're not Catholic.

[Guest zipperzone]

I'm guessing you're not Catholic.

No - I am not.

But whether I am or not has nothing to do with the subject at hand.

If anyone thinks for one second that the Pope is sympathetic in anyway towards gays, they are delusional.

All he is doing is encouraging the religious nut jobs to continue their homophobia.

Just what we need, right?

[MsAnn]

Well judging by the title of the thread, I thought for sure this was one of Adam Smith's posts....imagine my surprise.

[AdamSmith]

Well judging by the title of the thread, I thought for sure this was one of Adam Smith's posts....imagine my surprise.

"Does the Pope shit in the woods?"

[RA1]

I would suppose anywhere he prefers.

Best regards,

RA1

[KYTOP]

Why should this be a surprise? The Catholic Church does not recognize same sex marriage nor allow their priest to marry same sex couples in their Churches. I realize he said a lot of things "Liberal" citizens of our country agree with but he also said things for the "Conservatives" in our country (i.e. anti-Gay marriage and Pro-Life). I found it very amusing when watching CNN coverage of his visit, they completely ignored his comments regarding Abortion, Gay Marriage (both mentioned in his address to Congress) and other Conservative view-points. But kept on raving about Climate Change and anti-death penalty. Very biased coverage.

[Guest lahulpe]

I am not Catholic, when he was elected I had great hopes....... now he makes me puke.

[boiworship]

That Kentucky clerk was born Catholic, apparently. She said she was giving the rosary to her parents. She's in one of those scary snake-handling cults.

I must say that Francis strikes me as a rather odd fellow.

[AdamSmith]

You know, I wonder what we thought we could expect of him. He is Catholic, and Pope, after all.

I welcome whatever good he can bring to humanity. As for the rest -- the broad social tide is turning in our favor.

My personal view is that organized religion is an Iron Age mode of thinking and perceiving that, the sooner we are shed of it and the many shadows it casts on our thinking, feeling, social organization and so on, the better.

[mvan1]

I am not catholic.

However, I thought the new Pope was a refreshing change from the former Nazi Youth, Ratzinger, who resigned for unknown but speculative reasons.

The recent visit from the Pope seemed like such a good thing for the country but especially for the Catholic church.

Unless the reported visit with Kim Davis is a false rumor, I think the Pope made a horrible mistake and negated a large portion goodwill that his trip created.

Davis’ lawyer said the meeting took place but we all know that lawyers are notorious for not telling the truth.

The Vatican “does not deny” that such a meeting took place. However, the Vatican also does not confirm that such a meeting took place.

Logic would dictate that the Pope would know better than to meet with such a hateful and controversial person (Kim Davis) while the purpose of his U.S. trip was to create rapport and restore lost faith in his religion.

If the meeting is confirmed, than, shame on the Pope.

[mvan1]

How disappointing - it appears to be true - the Pope actually knowingly and voluntarily met with that bigoted Kim Davis, the county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gays.

The meeting was confirmed by the New York Times article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/30/us/county-clerk-kim-davis-who-denied-gay-couples-visited-pope.html?_r=0

The Pope meeting with that convicted shoplifter, four-times divorced woman, certainly negates a huge portion of any goodwill that his trip to the U.S. created.

In my opinion, the "nice guy" that he portrayed during his visit to the U.S. was just a facade.

As I said, how disappointing. I thought he was "a shot in the arm" for his religion. Not so.

-

[MsAnn]

This seems to be the general consensus now.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/pope-francis-kim-davis_b_8221090.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

[OneFinger]

This seems to be the general consensus now.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/pope-francis-kim-davis_b_8221090.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

This seems to be the general consensus now.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/pope-francis-kim-davis_b_8221090.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

Very interesting. Not sure his visit was that noteworthy.

[AdamSmith]

Hmm.

VATICAN CITY (AP) The Vatican on Friday distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who went to jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, saying she was one of dozens of people the pope greeted in the U.S. and that their encounter "should not be considered a form of support of her position."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pope-francis-kim-davis-vatican-statement-not-support

[MsAnn]

Hmm.

VATICAN CITY (AP) The Vatican on Friday distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis,marriage licenses, saying she was one of dozens of people the pope greeted in the U.S. and that their encounter "should not be considered a form of support of her position."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pope-francis-kim-davis-vatican-statement-not-support

"Bullshit"

[mvan1]

Hmm.

VATICAN CITY (AP) The Vatican on Friday distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who went to jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, saying she was one of dozens of people the pope greeted in the U.S. and that their encounter "should not be considered a form of support of her position."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pope-francis-kim-davis-vatican-statement-not-support

Clearly, the latest message from the Vatican is self-serving.

The meeting between the Pope and that jailbird bigot, Kim Davis, should never have taken place. The Vatican now realizes that fact and is trying to downplay the event because of the negative press that is occurring in the media over the inappropriate meeting.

The Pope was a great actor, for a while. But, the mask slipped.

He had many of us fooled into believing he was the "good guy" who would, among other things, reduce the bigotry in the church and bring back those who had left because of the intolerance taught in the church.

The damage is done as far as the Pope's credibility is concerned . It is not possible to "unring a bell" or so the idiom goes.

-

[RA1]

Never mind his comments on Capitalism and Socialism.

Best regards,

RA1

[AdamSmith]

Never mind his comments on Capitalism and Socialism.

Yes, precisely: serves us flaming lefties right.

So to speak.

[Guest zipperzone]

Hmm.

VATICAN CITY (AP) The Vatican on Friday distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who went to jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, saying she was one of dozens of people the pope greeted in the U.S. and that their encounter "should not be considered a form of support of her position."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pope-francis-kim-davis-vatican-statement-not-support

It's called DAMAGE CONTROL

[MsAnn]

Wait till Halloween. It ain't gonna be pretty.

[mvan1]

In my initial post in this thread I expressed doubt that the Pope would meet with such a hateful and bigoted person as Kim Davis and applaud her behavior, as she and her lawyer claim he did. Supposedly, the Pope met with Davis in privacy with no one else around - sure they did

Since the story first broke, more information was published that seemed to confirm that such a meeting actually took place between the Pope and Kim Davis.

However, this afternoon, the New York Times released a long article concerning the controversial meeting and set the record straight. Clearly, the Kim Davis woman and her lawyer (a vocal anti gay attorney) severely exaggerated the superficial meeting that took place.

In the below cited New York Times article is a link to a film of two gay guys (married to each other) having an audience with the Pope. These two guys were the only people granted an audience with the Pope. The Pope embraced the two men. The film of the event confirmed that the Pope did not treat the two married gay guys with any less respect that he would treat a straight couple. In fact, the Pope has been friends with one of the gay guys since the gay guy was a student of his many years ago.

This long article tells the real story of what happened in the meeting that was blown out of proportion by the Kim Davis freak.

Here is the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/03/world/europe/pope-francis-kim-davis-meeting.html?_r=0

The goodwill created by the Pope during his visit has been tarnished but not destroyed despite the efforts of Kim Davis and her attorney.

-

[MsAnn]

And from another article: https://www.yahoo.com/politics/the-real-story-behind-the-1269547693457462.html

"Perhaps the most stinging line in the statement was this: “Such brief greetings occur on all papal visits and are due to the Pope’s characteristic kindness.” Translation? He was only being nice. And woe to those who take advantage of that kindness for their own purposes."

[JKane]

I figure the meeting was setup by some right-wing asshat politician without the Vatican fully understanding the issue, but the Pope did specifically mention in one of his speeches something about people being able to stand by their religious convictions... still, a 3-4 time divorcee as the poster child for family values is the height of hypocrisy.

If people want something to be pissed at the Pope/Vatican about it should be that they are still against the distribution of condoms and instruction on use in AIDS plagued Africa, not this silly stupid bitch. She wants to stand up for her "religious convictions"? Then she can fucking resign! She wants to take a salary of taxpayer dollars then she can fucking do her JOB and follow the law of the land! It is either-or, cut and dried, and her behavior is hopefully the last nail in the coffin for any thinking person. Unfortunately that leaves out an alarming percentage of the US electorate...

[AdamSmith]

The gay man who got a surprise call from the pope: ‘I would like to give you a hug’

By Dan Zak October 2 at 6:16 PM

The Washington Post

Yayo Grassi, left, and his partner, Iwan, meeting with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature on Sept. 23. (Marisa Marchitelli)

Yayo Grassi’s phone rang in early September.

“Is this Obdulio?” said the caller, using a nickname given to Grassi 50 years earlier by a high school teacher.

“Who is this?” said Grassi, spooked.

“Who else calls you ‘Obdulio’?”

“Only one person,” Grassi said, “and I’m not going to talk until you identify yourself.”

“This is Jorge Mario Bergoglio,” the pope said, using his given name, according to Grassi. “I would like to give you a hug when I go to D.C.”

That hug — between the leader of the Catholic Church and a lifelong friend who is gay — came Sept. 23 at the Apostolic Nunciature during the pope’s first visit to the United States. Grassi put on a bright-blue checked blazer, brought along his boyfriend of nearly two decades, and embraced his former teacher in a sunlit parlor of the Vatican embassy.

This quiet meeting came to light Friday, after the Vatican — responding to questions about the pope’s meeting with Kim Davis, the controversial Kentucky county clerk jailed for refusing to approve same-sex marriage licenses — clarified that hers was only one of many “brief greetings” within a larger audience on his visit to the Vatican’s embassy.

[Pope Francis met with a same-sex couple the day before he met with Kim Davis]

“The only real audience granted by the pope at the Nunciature,” said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See press office, “was with one of his former students and his family.”

That student was Grassi, 67, and that family was his boyfriend, Iwan.

The embassy visit lasted about 15 minutes and consisted mostly of pleasantries.

“We have taken up too much of your time,” Grassi said, after the pope blessed three of Grassi’s friends and asked them to pray for him, in Spanish in a video of the pope's visit.

“No, by God,” the pope said, “thanks for coming by.” He then hugged Grassi, kissed his boyfriend twice on the cheek and said goodbye to the group.

Grassi and Francis first met in their native Argentina, at Inmaculada Concepción high school in Santa Fe, where the future pope was a teacher.

On Friday afternoon, a few hours after CNN broke the news of his papal audience, Grassi was cooking Argentine-style beef tenderloin at his home in LeDroit Park in Northwest Washington. His cellphone and land line were ringing off the hook.

A team from ABC News was at the door in the rain, but Grassi politely shooed them away.

The caterer had to prepare a dinner for 25 at the Phillips Collection by 4:30 p.m.

But he was willing to chat for a couple of minutes about a friendship that he considers sacred. It began in 1964 and 1965, when Bergoglio taught Grassi Argentine literature and psychology.

“He was an extraordinary teacher and a great mentor,” Grassi said, turning off his buzzing iPhone and lighting a Dunhill cigarette. “He kept pushing my horizons, to oblige me to keep looking. He asked me to put on the skin of my fellow man, to feel their pain.”

Grassi’s mother used to cook gnocchi for Bergoglio when he visited the family home in Parana. Grassi, who learned to cook from his mother, has operated his own D.C. catering business since 2005. Before that he was the director of catering for the National Gallery of Art. Grassi moved to the District in 1978 and lost touch with his teacher until 2008, when then-Cardinal Bergoglio granted him an audience in Buenos Aires.

Bergoglio became pope five years later, and Grassi reached out to Francis ahead of his first trip to the United States. A meeting was planned for Sept. 23.

When news broke this week about Davis’s visit, Grassi decided to speak out.

“Although I didn’t know any details, I knew immediately that [Francis] had nothing to do with this, that this was arranged by other people without telling him the real character” of Davis, Grassi said in his kitchen, checking on the tenderloin. “I received, from friends of mine, a lot of quite disturbing mail, telling me that: ‘This is your pope, look what he did,’ and ‘He’s a coward.’ And my defense is, we don’t know anything. Just wait until things come out. And I’m extremely pleased that I was right. And I never had any doubt that I was right.”

The Vatican was far less definitive, and it described the meeting as a routine visit between friends.

Grassi, Lombardi said, “had already met other times in the past with the pope” and asked to introduce “several friends to the pope during the pope’s stay in Washington, D.C. As noted in the past, the pope, as pastor, has maintained many personal relationships with people in a spirit of kindness, welcome and dialogue.”

The Vatican on Friday similarly played down the significance of the Davis visit, which opponents of same-sex marriage had hailed as validation of their cause. The Vatican said the meeting was initiated by the papal embassy — not Francis himself — and was not meant as an endorsement of all of Davis’s actions and views.

In 2010, when Francis was still a cardinal in Argentina, Grassi read media reports that his former teacher had condemned the country’s legalization of same-sex marriage. So he sent a long e-mail to the cardinal expressing his disappointment as a gay man.

“I stood firm on my position,” Grassi said of what he wrote. “And I ended the e-mail saying: ‘Don’t think it was easy for me to write this e-mail, but I had to do it. And I think it was the right thing to do because 40 years ago you taught me I had to do it.’ ”

The cardinal — who as pope would respond, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about gay priests — responded that his words had been cherry-picked and twisted by the media, according to Grassi, and that the reported sentiment was not true.

“He wrote back to me, telling me, first of all, how sorry he was that he had hurt my feelings, that he had hurt me,” Grassi said. “One of the things he said on that e-mail was that ‘I want you to know that in my work there is absolutely no place for homophobia.’ And I think that’s what I want people to know.”

With that, the alarm for the tenderloin began to beep, and it was back to work.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-gay-man-who-got-a-surprise-call-from-the-pope-i-would-like-to-give-you-a-hug/2015/10/02/41c9f65e-6927-11e5-8325-a42b5a459b1e_story.html