Catholic church becoming more, well, catholic

“Catholic,” as I am sure you know, means “universal.” That is, it is supposed to embrace everyone, everywhere – in every circumstance. Universal.

My Pope – I feel safe, for the first time in my life, using a possessive in that way – apparently agrees:

ROME — In a broad proclamation on family life, Pope Francis on Friday called for the Roman Catholic Church to be more welcoming and less judgmental, and he seemingly signaled a pastoral path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion.

The 256-page document — known as an apostolic exhortation and titled “Amoris Laetitia,” Latin for “The Joy of Love” — calls for priests to welcome single parents, gay people and unmarried straight couples who are living together.

“A pastor cannot feel that it is enough to simply apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives,” he wrote.

I don’t think the document is as positive as the Times report suggests it is, in respect of LGBT people – but give this Pope some more time, he will get there.  After all: he has moved the Church further in the three years of his papcy than it had moved in the 300 years that preceded his arrival.

As a divorced Catholic, I’m happy to see a Pope who finally gets it.  In effect, he is encouraging some creative priest-shopping: find one who will listen to you, and who will act.  (Can such priests be found? Well, yes: I was married by a gay priest who assisted young women with unwanted pregnancies.  And he later died of AIDS. So, yes.)

The Church, as noted, is supposed to be universal.  Pope Francis is making that word finally mean something to those of us who have been waiting.  Thank God, as they say.