What do you know, there's a little rebellion happening inside of the Catholic Church, but only in Austria and Germany
Quote:The Catholic church of the parish of Hard is one of many in Austria which decided to fly the rainbow flag in solidarity with the LGBT community after the Vatican ruled last month that the Church couldn't bless same-sex partnerships.
Hard's parish priest Erich Baldauf says he and the hundreds of other clergy who belong to the reform-oriented "Priests' Initiative" movement decided to fly the flag to show "that we do not agree with this outdated position", with many other churches also making the gesture. Soon after the rainbow flag in Hard was put up, there was an attempt to damage it, and last Tuesday Baldauf was saddened to discover that it had been burnt.
Contrary to the impression that these incidents may give, surveys show that Austrian public opinion is firmly on the side of equal treatment for same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Austria since 2019 and a survey last week found that a full 64 per cent of Austrians opposed the Vatican's recent decision. A mere 13 per cent said they could understand the Vatican's stance.
Experts say differences between Austrian social attitudes and Church teaching on issues such as homosexuality and abortion contribute to tens of thousands choosing to leave the Church each year.
It's not just the explicitly reform-oriented Priests' Initiative who have spoken out on the CDF ruling. No less a figure than the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, said he was "not happy" with the Vatican's pronouncement.
"The message that went out via the media to the whole world was a simple 'no' and in fact a 'no' to blessing, which is something that hurts many people to their core," he explained to the Catholic newspaper Der Sonntag.
The unhappiness has found an echo among Germany's Catholics, with priests using a hashtag calling for "disobedience" online. While some prominent German bishops have supported the Vatican's stance, others accused the CDF of seeking to stifle theological debates which have been active among German Catholics in recent years.
A German petition calling for the CDF's ruling to be ignored has been signed by 2,600 priests and deacons, as well as 277 theologians. The reaction in Germany and Austria speaks to broader global fault lines on social issues between socially conservative and liberal congregations.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europ...essing-ban
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
