We Should Apologize NOW ! ! !

One thing to always remember about Papa Francesco: On many issues, he's a decent guy trying to do the best he can to turn a 2000-year-old barnacle-encrusted supertanker of an institution onto a course that's more decent and humane than the one it's been on for most of its existence, or roughly since the Founder blew town having made the capital mistake of leaving his business for human beings to run. 

So, over the weekend, when hbe was asked whether HMC should apologize for its abominable treatment of gay people down through the millennia, Papa Francesco went about as far as he's likely to go.

He said some politicized behaviors of the homosexual community can be condemned for being "a bit offensive for others." 

But he said: "Someone who has this condition, who has good will and is searching for God, who are we to judge?" 

"We must accompany them," Francis said. "I think the church must not only apologize ... to a gay person it offended, but we must apologize to the poor, to women who have been exploited, to children forced into labor, apologize for having blessed so many weapons" and for having failed to accompany families who faced divorces or experienced other problems. Read more:

Tougher Laws

The Spanish government recently 

backed a proposal for a 

tougher abortion law.

The bill says early termination is no longer a right, and would only be allowed in cases of rape or when the mother's health is at risk.

The current law gives women the right to abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy, rising to 22 weeks in case of fetal deformities.

Pro-choice groups have pledged to stage protests against the change, which will be debated in parliament.

Spain's center-right government recently unveiled the proposal.

"We can't allow the life of the unborn baby to depend exclusively on the decision of the mother," Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon told reporters.

The move is almost certain to be passed into law because the governing Popular Party has a strong majority in Congress, the BBC's Guy Hedgecoe in Madrid reports.

Many supporters of the party are practicing Catholics, and Spain's Catholic Church has frequently spoken out to call for a similar law; but, the opposition Socialist Party warned the measure would send women into dangerous backstreet clinics for abortions.

Changes to the law have long been championed by Spain's Catholic church, an influential force in a country where more than 70% of the population say they are Catholic. Madrid's archbishop, Antonio María Rouco Varela, has called for an urgent reform of the 2010 law, saying it had "led to a rise in the number of abortions to terrifying levels".

It was an issue that helped propel the People's party into power, said Benigno Blanco, president of the Foro Español de la Familia. "Now it is time for the government to complete its electoral promises regarding this law. There is popular demand to do this."

Elena Valenciano, the deputy secretary general of Spain's Socialist party, spoke out against the Catholic church in April, accusing it of trying to diminish women's say over their own bodies.

Spanish protesters against government decision...

"And women, that is to say mothers, don't they have a word in this? Ministers, judges, bishops, scientists are going to decide what we should do with our motherhood. Yes, they know. We obey and shut up. Amen," she vented on her Facebook page.

Women's groups across the country echo her views. "This is a fight for control over women's bodies," said Yolanda Besteiro, president of the Federación de Mujeres Progresistas.

"For so many generations, so many Spanish women have fought for equality," she said. "They have had some tremendous successes, including a past government that counted as many female ministers as male. But now it seems like their fight was worth nothing."

Time Off From Hell

 

In its latest attempt to keep up with the times the Vatican has married one of its oldest traditions to the world of social media by offering "indulgences" to followers of Pope Francis'  (above)tweets.

The church's granted indulgences reduce the time Catholics believe they will have to spend in purgatory after they have confessed and been absolved of their sins.

The remissions got a bad name in the Middle Ages because unscrupulous churchmen sold them for large sums of money. But now indulgences are being applied to the 21st century.

But a senior Vatican official warned web-surfing Catholics that indulgences still required a dose of old-fashioned faith, and that paradise was not just a few mouse clicks away.

"You can't obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine," Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the pontifical council for social communication, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Indulgences these days are granted to those who carry out certain tasks – such as climbing the Sacred Steps, in Rome (reportedly brought from Pontius Pilate's house after Jesus scaled them before his crucifixion), a feat that earns believers seven years off purgatory.

But attendance at events such as the Catholic World Youth Day, in Rio de Janeiro, a week-long event starting on 22 July, can also win an indulgence.

Mindful of the faithful who cannot afford to fly to Brazil, the Vatican's sacred apostolic penitentiary, a court which handles the forgiveness of sins, has also extended the privilege to those following the "rites and pious exercises" of the event on television, radio and through social media.

"That includes following Twitter," said a source at the penitentiary, referring to Pope Francis' Twitter account, which has gathered seven million followers. "But you must be following the events live. It is not as if you can get an indulgence by chatting on the internet."

In its decree, the penitentiary said that getting an indulgence would hinge on the beneficiary having previously confessed and being "truly penitent and contrite".

Praying while following events in Rio online would need to be carried out with "requisite devotion", it suggested.

Apart from the papal Twitter account, the Vatican has launched an online news portal supported by an app, a Facebook page, and it plans to use the online social networking site Pinterest.

"What really counts is that the tweets the Pope sends from Brazil or the photos of the Catholic World Youth Day that go up on Pinterest produce authentic spiritual fruit in the hearts of everyone," said Celli.