Media Expressing Hope Pope Francis Will Usher New Era for Gay Catholic Priests

Pope Francis: The End of ‘Fortress Catholicism’? (Washington Post)

Something unexpected and extraordinary is happening in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis is rescuing the faith from those who hunker down in gilded cathedrals and wield doctrine like a sword. The edifice of fortress Catholicism – in which progressive Catholics, gay Catholics, Catholic women and others who love the church but often feel marginalized by the hierarchy – is starting to crumble.

While that analysis carries a hint of hyperbole, a pastor with a natural instinct for engaging people and leading by example is now steering the ship at the Vatican. The change of tone and style in Francis’s papacy is striking. In recent decades, many Catholics got the message that a “smaller, purer church” was the top-down model preferred by Rome. A new spirit not felt since the reforming Second Vatican Council began five decades ago is now stirring in the air.
It would be a mistake to say Pope Francis doesn’t care about church doctrine, but he seems far more interested in refocusing the church’s energy toward the example of Jesus in the Gospels. In less than six months, the pope has criticized a “self-referential” church that grows “sick” when clergy fail to engage the world. Francis says he doesn’t want bishops who are “princes,” but pastors close to the people who lead without being “authoritarian.”  He has little patience for church officials who act like religious border patrol by making it harder for single mothers or lapsed Catholics to receive the sacraments. Francis even gently noted that Jesus’ first disciples were “a little intolerant” in their moral certainty. The most frequent word used in his homilies and formal addresses is “joy,” according to an analysis from an Italian newspaper. This is a refreshing change from some dour religious leaders who often seem perpetually crouched in a defensive posture.