Pope and Justin Welby to visit South Sudan amid tensions over LGBTQ+ rights

[Rival]

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope are agreed to go to South Sudan to argue for more tolerance of homosexuality. The Sudanese clergy are not as happy with this, being very socially conservative,

The leaders of the global Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, whose numbers are growing in sub-Saharan Africa in contrast to the west, will be joined on their “pilgrimage of peace” by the leader of the Church of Scotland.

Pope Francis, Justin Welby and Iain Greenshields will meet President Salva Kiir, bishops and clergy, and people displaced by conflict in the area.

Before the visit, Francis and Welby have risked angering local political and church leaders with statements about same-sex relationships that contrast with deeply conservative views that predominate in South Sudan.

Francis said in an interview that laws that criminalise homosexuality were unjust. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” he said.

The Catholic church should work to put an end to such laws, he said. “It must do this.” In line with Catholic teaching, he said homosexual acts were sinful but added: “Let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”

[...]

The Anglican church claims about 80 million followers worldwide, with most of its growth in sub-Saharan Africa as congregations in the west dwindle. The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, a conservative group that rejects any change to biblical teaching on marriage and homosexuality, claims to represent 75% of the total.

Similarly, the Roman Catholic church, which claims 1.3 billion followers around the globe, has seen its biggest growth in Africa in recent years.

Pope and Justin Welby to visit South Sudan amid tensions over LGBTQ+ rights | South Sudan | The Guardian

What do you think?

 

[Debater Slayer]

If anyone has a considerable chance to influence Sudanese clergy to be more accepting of LGBT people, even if over the (possibly very) long term, I think it's probably other high-ranking church officials. I wish the pope and the archbishop success with this; every increment in the right direction counts.

 

[exchemist]

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope are agreed to go to South Sudan to argue for more tolerance of homosexuality. The Sudanese clergy are not as happy with this, being very socially conservative,

The leaders of the global Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, whose numbers are growing in sub-Saharan Africa in contrast to the west, will be joined on their “pilgrimage of peace” by the leader of the Church of Scotland.

Pope Francis, Justin Welby and Iain Greenshields will meet President Salva Kiir, bishops and clergy, and people displaced by conflict in the area.

Before the visit, Francis and Welby have risked angering local political and church leaders with statements about same-sex relationships that contrast with deeply conservative views that predominate in South Sudan.

Francis said in an interview that laws that criminalise homosexuality were unjust. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” he said.

The Catholic church should work to put an end to such laws, he said. “It must do this.” In line with Catholic teaching, he said homosexual acts were sinful but added: “Let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”

[...]

The Anglican church claims about 80 million followers worldwide, with most of its growth in sub-Saharan Africa as congregations in the west dwindle. The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, a conservative group that rejects any change to biblical teaching on marriage and homosexuality, claims to represent 75% of the total.

Similarly, the Roman Catholic church, which claims 1.3 billion followers around the globe, has seen its biggest growth in Africa in recent years.

Pope and Justin Welby to visit South Sudan amid tensions over LGBTQ+ rights | South Sudan | The Guardian

What do you think?

I think it is bold and will send a very useful signal, not only to the religious leaders in South Sudan but elsewhere in the Catholic and Anglican communions. The verkrampte Catholic dinosaurs in the USA will be gnashing their teeth with rage!

 

[Sand Dancer]

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope are agreed to go to South Sudan to argue for more tolerance of homosexuality. The Sudanese clergy are not as happy with this, being very socially conservative,

The leaders of the global Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, whose numbers are growing in sub-Saharan Africa in contrast to the west, will be joined on their “pilgrimage of peace” by the leader of the Church of Scotland.

Pope Francis, Justin Welby and Iain Greenshields will meet President Salva Kiir, bishops and clergy, and people displaced by conflict in the area.

Before the visit, Francis and Welby have risked angering local political and church leaders with statements about same-sex relationships that contrast with deeply conservative views that predominate in South Sudan.

Francis said in an interview that laws that criminalise homosexuality were unjust. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” he said.

The Catholic church should work to put an end to such laws, he said. “It must do this.” In line with Catholic teaching, he said homosexual acts were sinful but added: “Let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”

[...]

The Anglican church claims about 80 million followers worldwide, with most of its growth in sub-Saharan Africa as congregations in the west dwindle. The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, a conservative group that rejects any change to biblical teaching on marriage and homosexuality, claims to represent 75% of the total.

Similarly, the Roman Catholic church, which claims 1.3 billion followers around the globe, has seen its biggest growth in Africa in recent years.

Pope and Justin Welby to visit South Sudan amid tensions over LGBTQ+ rights | South Sudan | The Guardian

What do you think?

Missionaries are putting these ideas in their heads, so maybe the Catholic Church can teach Jesus to them instead of fundamentalism.

 

[Harel13]

From what I can tell, the article's title is a misnomer, if the issue is homosexuality.

 

[Rival]

From what I can tell, the article's title is a misnomer, if the issue is homosexuality.

Very rarely these days do I hear Anglophone speakers saying 'gay' or any variant thereof. Now it's pretty much always 'LGBT'. The thing here does seem to be the homosexuality issue though, on its own, as the AC and RCC have been talking it through for years now. The AC just reiterated that it will not marry same sex couples and the RCC is having issues with the German Synodal Way on this issue, with the latter being pro same sex unions being blessed, women priests etc.

So it's the homosexuality issue, really.

 

[Harel13]

Very rarely these days do I hear Anglophone speakers saying 'gay' or any variant thereof. Now it's pretty much always 'LGBT'.

It's the same in Israel, and I sometimes hear conservative Israelis criticize this, since there isn't really any essential relationship between LGB and T etc. I may have heard also conservative Americans say this, but I'm not sure. I've barely followed them for a couple of years now.

 

[Left Coast]

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope are agreed to go to South Sudan to argue for more tolerance of homosexuality. The Sudanese clergy are not as happy with this, being very socially conservative,

The leaders of the global Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, whose numbers are growing in sub-Saharan Africa in contrast to the west, will be joined on their “pilgrimage of peace” by the leader of the Church of Scotland.

Pope Francis, Justin Welby and Iain Greenshields will meet President Salva Kiir, bishops and clergy, and people displaced by conflict in the area.

Before the visit, Francis and Welby have risked angering local political and church leaders with statements about same-sex relationships that contrast with deeply conservative views that predominate in South Sudan.

Francis said in an interview that laws that criminalise homosexuality were unjust. “We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” he said.

The Catholic church should work to put an end to such laws, he said. “It must do this.” In line with Catholic teaching, he said homosexual acts were sinful but added: “Let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”

[...]

The Anglican church claims about 80 million followers worldwide, with most of its growth in sub-Saharan Africa as congregations in the west dwindle. The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, a conservative group that rejects any change to biblical teaching on marriage and homosexuality, claims to represent 75% of the total.

Similarly, the Roman Catholic church, which claims 1.3 billion followers around the globe, has seen its biggest growth in Africa in recent years.

Pope and Justin Welby to visit South Sudan amid tensions over LGBTQ+ rights | South Sudan | The Guardian

What do you think?

Hopefully they change some minds! And hopefully one day they see that there nothing inherently "sinful" about gayness either.

 

[Rival]

Hopefully they change some minds! And hopefully one day they see that there nothing inherently "sinful" about gayness either.

MAYBE IF THEY WRITE THEM LETTERS LIKE THIS THE SUDANESE CLERGY WILL LISTEN TO THEM.

 

[Left Coast]

MAYBE IF THEY WRITE THEM LETTERS LIKE THIS THE SUDANESE CLERGY WILL LISTEN TO THEM.

NEW FORMAT FOR ALL ENCYCLICALS!

 

[Shadow Wolf]

“Let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”

It's a starting place, I suppose. Hopefully they'll at least see the mentality as a compromise and the roots of hate can have some opposition.

 

[pearl]

I think Francis has always approved of and supported civil unions for gays, there is no crime.

 

[pearl]

Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws. Experts say even where the laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people.

In the U.S., more than a dozen states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books, despite a 2003 Supreme Court ruling declaring them unconstitutional. Gay rights advocates say the antiquated laws are used to harass homosexuals, and point to new legislation, such as the “Don’t say gay” law in Florida, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, as evidence of continued efforts to marginalize LGBTQ people.

“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,” he added.

Catholic teaching holds that while gay people must be treated with respect, homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” Francis has not changed that teaching, but he has made reaching out to the LGBTQ community a hallmark of his papacy.

Starting with his famous 2013 declaration, “Who am I to judge?” when he was asked about a purportedly gay priest, Francis has gone on to minister repeatedly and publicly to the gay and trans community. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he favored granting legal protections to same-sex couples as an alternative to endorsing gay marriage, which Catholic doctrine forbids
Pope Francis: Homosexuality not a crime | America Magazine