Pope Francis has caused great excitement by saying that same-sex couples should be allowed to have “civil unions”. “Homosexual people have a right to be in a family,” he said in the film, which premiered this week. “They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable over it.” He took a similar stance when Archbishop of Buenos Aires and there is no indication of a doctrinal shift within the Church which regards gay relationships as deviant behaviour. And this despite some estimates that well over half if not up to 80% of Vatican priests are homosexual (not all practising).
But it may also be that Francis is trying to shift the temperature of the debate towards liberalism in gradual steps.
His Election chart, 13 March 2013 7.06 pm Rome, always did indicate an explosively divisive papacy with Mars Uranus in Aries sitting astride the Descendant.
And he has faced massive problems in sorting out the Vatican’s tangled finances which he described as like “cleaning the Sphinx of Egypt with a toothbrush” – with indications from the recent unprecedented firing of Cardinal Becciu that he is losing patience with the speed of reforms. His efforts to tackle sex abuse amongst the clergy have also run into problems and not produced the results and transparency demanded by victims. Which again may be a reflection of intransigence within the Vatican. But he has been appointing cardinals who are on-side with his modernist views on a range of topics including on decentralizing power from Rome and who will elect his successor. So his legacy will live on.
He is 83 now so he will not have the energy to take on the hundred-headed hydra that exists in the Vatican for ever. Tr Neptune is conjunct his papacy Venus this year and Sun in 2021/22; with a short-sharp-shock from Solar Arc Sun conjunct the Mars, exact in a few weeks but could have triggered early – either with this direct statement or even the firing of Becciu.
Finances look a preoccupation in 2021/22 with tr Uranus opposition the 2nd house Saturn with tr Saturn in square. With another emotional upset in 2022 when the Solar Arc Uranus is conjunct the Moon.
His personal chart, 17 December 1936 9pm Buenos Aires, Argentina, is being rattled emotionally by tr Uranus square the Venus this year and early next; and in 2021 square the 8th house Moon; with tr Saturn conjunct from early 2021. He will feel isolated and thrown back on his own resources with an undermining tr Neptune square his Sun by 2022.
His relationship chart with the Vatican is slipping and sliding with a disappointing tr Neptune conjunct the Venus and Sun in 2020/21; as well as tr Pluto opposing the Pluto and squaring the Uranus before this year end turning everything upside down.
It must be a real test of his metal to survive in a hostile Vatican while trying to push through much needed reforms and corruption-cleansing against heavy resistance.
The Vatican is heading for a radical change of direction but not until the middle of this decade (if the 11am start time is accurate) – when tr Uranus is conjunct the Midheaven and thereafter Uranus in Gemini will conjunct the Moon, Sun and Mercury more or less at the same time as the Solar Arc Uranus will conjunct the Vatican Pluto in 2029 for a radical upheaval. Before then it will follow a winding path with jolts, jangles, setbacks and arguments in 2021 as tr Uranus and tr Saturn collide with its Mars in Leo; and in 2022 tr Saturn damps down enthusiasm and confidence as it opposes Neptune and squares the Jupiter and Midheaven – with a couple of overly optimistic and financial bubble-bursting Solar Arcs at the same time.
As a secular Roman Catholic who was born into the religion, I’ve been very pleased with Pope Francis (he’s one of my favorite Popes along with the late Pope John Paul II). Pope Francis is progressive-minded and he’s trying to move Roman Catholicism forward (into the 21st century).
I don’t care what the ultra-conservative Catholics with their “Inquisition mentality” think about this – they’re as socially oppressive as the Jehovah Witnesses, Evangelical Christians, and Wahhabi and Salafi Muslims (four of the most fundamentalist religious groups I can think of).
Majority of Roman Catholics in Western and industrialist nations tend to be more secular, more tolerant, and more accepting of change. Pope Francis sees this…but apparently, there are many in the Vatican who still need time to evolve.
All in all, I hope the Vatican will eventually be more open and accepting to change – I also hope they start supporting LGBTQIA+ people and I also hope they start allowing women to become priests.
Chris Romero
Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Well the cardinals knew Pope Francis for years and voted for him, so no point having a go now. One of this Pope’s basic tenets is do not keep Catholics from their faith. It is pretty well established people do not choose their sexuality. Gay baptised Catholics have every right to practise their faith.
Who needs Richard Dawkins if you’ve got Pope Francis?
If he is going to unilaterally trash christian scripture – Saint Paul, who unequivocally condemned homosexuality, is the greatest and most venerated of the church fathers – why not go for the whole shebang and just say that it is all a great big con trick and farce from start to finish.
Just, for a moment, spare a thought for all those poor stupid bastards, literally millions of them, who fought and died and struggled to defend what Pope Francis has just revealed to be a sick joke and massive con trick.
Jonathan, I’m sure there is a way of pointing this out without sounding quite so worked up. I’m no lover of Catholicism or organized religion in any form but what he’s tentatively done is called “progress”. Biblical literalism in the sense you seem to mean is much the same as Islam fundamentalism.