As a former very devout Catholic, I can recall believing deeply in the church's positions on various issues, from abortion to social justice. Twenty years ago (and more), the Catholics used to have some difficulty getting their full agenda pushed, because they'd tend to agree with the Democrats on social justice issues, but with Republicans on abortion issues.
This created an interesting tension, because they would constantly be asking both sides to fight each other and delay or stall the others' legislative initiatives. Ultimately, it came down to a question of opportunism: if the Democrats had control, the church would tend to push more for social justice issues, only really diving into the abortion side of things if the Democrats started getting uppity in the reproductive rights department.
I'm curious to learn the special motivation which is causing the Pope to weigh in, Santorum-style, on the whole gay marriage issue. Seems a curious time to add that to their repertoire on such a scale. Generally, Rome stays behind their front line, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. They do all the heavy lifting so as to avoid the perception that Rome is ruling from afar and meddling directly in US politics.
Why now? Why didn't Rome yell its fool head off last year during the Planned Parenthood debacle? Why not throw Chris Pitts a bone, and proclaim that his latest attempt to undo decades of legal precedent in one misogynistic swoop? How about some Papal shouting about DOMA, or DADT?
No no, gay marriage is what finally got Benedict off his cathedra. Not when Santorum was advocating a Catholicism Americanum six months ago, or 3 months ago... Or in years past when any number of other candidates spoke out against extending what are largely legal benefits to people whose marriage contract might not be substantially different from any number of JOP-wed hetero couples.
Anyone else find that curious?
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