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[CrazyDude]

VATICAN CITY — Forty "I do's" — or "Si" in Italian — were pronounced in St. Peter's Basilica Sunday as Pope Francis married 20 couples, with one bride already a mother.

Francis in his homily likened families to the "bricks that build society."

Among the couples, all from the Rome area, is one in which the groom's first marriage was annulled by the church and the bride has a daughter from an earlier relationship. Some of the other couples already were living together.

The Vatican views sex outside marriage as sin, but Francis stresses the church should be a forgiving one.

He said marriage was "real life, not some TV show." He told the couples love of Jesus can help whenever their love "becomes lost, wounded or worn out."

Many rank-and-file Catholics have pressed the Vatican to allow divorced faithful who remarry to receive Communion. The Vatican has stood firm, contending only if remarried Catholics forsake sex can they receive Communion. Catholics can only remarry in the Church if their first marriage is annulled, essentially a declaration the initial union never existed.

Some hope a major Vatican meeting next month on family concerns might lead to permission for divorced Catholics who remarry to receive Communion. Francis has reportedly told a woman in his Argentine homeland whose husband's first marriage wasn't annulled she was free of sin and should take Communion anyway. The Vatican quickly clarified that the pope's private conversations don't reflect church policy.

Sunday's weddings performed by Francis could also be seen by status-quo defenders as the Vatican's way of stressing that marriage, because it is a sacrament, should endure. One by one, the 20 couples were called by name by Francis, who asked if they'd be faithful for the rest of their lives.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/pope-francis-performs-wedding-for-woman-who-had-child-outside/article_efed77a5-c084-5f7c-a8ed-2c38813428ac.html

 

[Mobius 1]

Best thing that ever came out of

Spoiler

Argentina

 

[Ghazi]

I know next to nothing about the church and the pope, but all the awesome shit I see Pope Francis doing makes me think he's a really cool guy.

 

[Mariolee]

Pope be testing the pharisees and the saducees.

 

[Escape Goat]

The Vatican has stood firm, contending only if remarried Catholics forsake sex can they receive Communion

Holy shit, Batman.

 

[Oriel]

Franky continues to impress. This Liberal Catholic approves.

 

[geomon]

Cool Pope gonna...pope.

 

[Sketchbag]

It's a good thing and it's a start, but this Pope has really done nothing to combat the big issues regarding the church. Hopefully this paves the way for changes on birth control, same sex, donations, holding members accountable, etc..

 

[Astral/H3X]

It's a good thing and it's a start, but this Pope has really done nothing to combat the big issues regarding the church. Hopefully this paves the way for changes on birth control, same sex, donations, holding members accountable, etc..

Aside from like basically being the good forgiving guy in general that he should be. Instead of saying "If you have ever lived a single day in your life, you are irrefutably drenched in sin".

 

[JDSN]

Best thing that ever came out of

Spoiler

Argentina

That Chorizo tho.

 

[massoluk]

The Best Pope. THE BEST.

 

[Dead Man]

Good to see that he holds to the idea that God punishes for breaking church rules instead of the church having to punish people for breaking church rules. Hopefully that idea expands a bit.

The Best Pope. THE BEST.

That isn't really saying very much though. The standard is pretty fucking low at this point. I feel like some people (not you) are praising him just for not being a hateful bigot.

 

[Rebel Leader]

This pope guys... This pope

Forever may he reign

 

[jon bones]

Pope Francis is the ill papa

 

[Mariolee]

It's a good thing and it's a start, but this Pope has really done nothing to combat the big issues regarding the church. Hopefully this paves the way for changes on birth control, same sex, donations, holding members accountable, etc..

Have you done any research on this pope at all. Dude has done far more than kind words.

Ignorant cynicism is still ignorant.

 

[genjiZERO]

I've never actually met anyone who was divorced and remarried, but denied communion. Sometimes I think a lot of this is simply official dogma, but the realities are different.

 

[entremet]

Catholicism has such strict rules in certain areas, mores than other sects of Christianity, yet most Catholics ignore them pretty much wholesale--contraception being one major example.

 

[Acorn]

Some hard liners in the Vatican are plotting a mysterious illness right about now.

 

[Dead Man]

Have you done any research on this pope at all. Dude has done far more than kind words.

Ignorant cynicism is still ignorant.

And they can be a cynic without being ignorant. Do you know of any plans by him to oppose the ban on birth control?

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

It's a good thing and it's a start, but this Pope has really done nothing to combat the big issues regarding the church. Hopefully this paves the way for changes on birth control, same sex, donations, holding members accountable, etc..

Baby steps dude. You think he can just kick down the Vatican doors and start handing out condoms? Social progress is gradual. Think of all the decrepit, stubborn geezers he has to deal with everyday.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Some hard liners in the Vatican are plotting a mysterious illness right about now.

awww, knee slapper.

 

[Acorn]

awww, knee slapper.

I'm being serious and I'm catholic.

Some shady dudes in Vatican City, he's been doing things with bank too that won't please those people.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Baby steps dude. You think he can just kick down the Vatican doors and start handing out condoms? Social progress is gradual. Think of all the decrepit, stubborn geezers he has to deal with everyday.

Yes, because he's da pope!

 

[Amir0x]

Good movie, Francis. We need continued more inclusive stuff from you on this score. One day hopefully we'll hear progressive moves on gay marriage, maybe in 100 years. Hopefully.

Still am waiting to see some massive institutional headbreaking over the child sex abuse stuff, though. Words are not alone enough. So many people need to be removed still due to this situation. He's done a few things, but it's just a drop in the bucket compared to how seriously fucked up things are in the church over this stuff. To me this is still the dominant issue of the day as far as the Church is concerned.

 

[YesNOnoNOYes]

Nice to see a sensible Pope! Hope he will continue to break the boundaries of outdated religion practices and mindsets, and re-innovate faith as something that can enrich the souls of many modern, educated, progressive-minded people <3

Good work, Frank! Keep on keepin' on *thumb up*

 

[Dead Man]

Good movie, Francis. We need continued more inclusive stuff from you on this score. One day hopefully we'll hear progressive moves on gay marriage, maybe in 100 years. Hopefully.

Still am waiting to see some massive institutional headbreaking over the child sex abuse stuff, though. Words are not alone enough. So many people need to be removed still due to this situation. He's done a few things, but it's just a drop in the bucket compared to how seriously fucked up things are in the church over this stuff. To me this is still the dominant issue of the day as far as the Church is concerned.

To me it is the churches opposition to birth control, but yeah, lots of big issues still.

 

[John Kowalski]

Oh what kindness of his, to slightly nudge the status quo a tad to the side.

 

[Sketchbag]

Have you done any research on this pope at all. Dude has done far more than kind words.

Ignorant cynicism is still ignorant.

Baby steps dude. You think he can just kick down the Vatican doors and start handing out condoms? Social progress is gradual. Think of all the decrepit, stubborn geezers he has to deal with everyday.

This is why I said this hopefully paves the way. I should have been more clear and say his other small adjustments might pave the way as well.

 

[block tower]

now if he really about that "changed" life, lets see him perform a gay wedding.

in the words of Lil Reese, "We ain't really with that talking, bitch we 'bout that action."

 

[genjiZERO]

Catholicism has such strict rules in certain areas, mores than other sects of Christianity, yet most Catholics ignore them pretty much wholesale--contraception being one major example.

The point of Catholicism is to figure out that you're supposed to ignore the rules.

 

[JDSN]

Oh what kindness of his, to slightly nudge the status quo a tad to the side.

I really enjoy this posts. I can almost picture people waving their hands saying YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS CAPTAIN PLANET!

 

[wildfire]

How do you even get on the waiting list to have a service done by the Pope?

 

[Amir0x]

To me it is the churches opposition to birth control, but yeah, lots of big issues still.

Oh yeah that's an excellent one. Pope Francis inspires a lot of good will, but I hope some more of it turns into actionable changes. The opposition to birth control alone has probably caused more horrendous damage to this world than many of the Church's comparable "good" policies combined, so I absolutely agree it needs to change.

 

[Madness]

Eh, never mind. Don't like to get into religion here.

 

[Mariolee]

This is why I said this hopefully paves the way. I should have been more clear and say his other small adjustments might pave the way as well.

What are these "small adjustments" you're referring to?

 

[Concept17]

Still waiting for "Pope Francis denounces bible, urges Catholics to use psychology instead."

 

[Desi]

Best thing that ever came out of

Spoiler

Argentina

my friends ass

 

[Nuklear]

Anyone who knows the Catholic religion doesn't find this amazing at all. There is always room for forgiveness in the religion. She committed a sin and she was forgiven. If she was divorced this wedding doesn't happen.

 

[Amir0x]

Pope Francis seems to be a decent Pope. He's only one man, he can't institute massive change on the scale a lot of you want, he may be ethnically Italian, but he's the first Argentinian, non-European Pope for a long time. Maybe there will be changes in the way the church operates, who knows.

He can institute a lot of changes if he wants to.

He absolutely can deal with the sex abuse problem at the institutional level, for example. So many priests and bishops are directly responsible for the cover up and perpetration of this horrific crime, and yet exist within the church structure and still get retirement funds. This is not some crazy out there goal. If Pope Francis wants his legacy to be taken seriously, he's going to succeed where that Monster Benedict failed. Benedict was directly responsible for covering up some of the shit, some Pope he is. At least Francis by default wins by not being to my knowledge responsible in any of that cover up.

And he absolutely can, if he want, declare a change in church policy toward birth control. It wouldn't be difficult, and the resulting sea change alone would be worth any flack. He would save potentially millions of lives and incalculable pain and suffering.

In this same way he performs a wedding on someone who had a child out of wedlock, this strategy can continue to promote inclusiveness and forgiveness as well as allowing the Church to meet the bitter realities of modern man. It's time to stop being behind the curve on everything, imo.