Former President of Ireland Slams Vatican on AttitudesTowards Women and Gays

With the referendum on same sex marriage a little over two (2) months away, brickbats are being thrown at the Roman Catholic Church which is leading the charge in support of a "No" vote that would keep LGBT couples inferior under the civil marriage laws in keeping with the Vatican's embrace of 13th century ignorance and bigotry.  Among those denigrating the Church for its bigotry is Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland, who laid into Pope Francis and his predecessor, the Nazi Pope, Benedict XVI.   Irish Examiner has details.  But McAleese is not the only one urging a "Yes" vote.   As reported by Towleroad,  Iggy O’Donovan, a Catholic priest from Limerick lays out why he, and others who believe in religious freedom, will be voting "Yes" come May 22, 2015. First these highlights from the Irish Examiner:

Pope Francis is holding women back due to misogyny, former [Irish] president Mary McAleese has warned.

In outspoken remarks regarding the attitudes of the Catholic Church, the ex-head of State insisted that the Pope is “blind” to improving the role of women.

Ms McAleese caused a stir in 2013 when she condemned the Vatican’s attitude to gay rights.  While saying she admires Pope Francis, the former president urged a radical change in the Church’s thinking towards women.

“There is a blindness here that comes from a kind of a priestly formation that leaves so many good, decent, gentlemanly men like Francis still carrying an element, a residual element, of misogyny that closes them off to the dangers of not dealing with these issues,” Ms McAleese told RTÉ.
“I think that’s where there’s a problem with Francis, I don’t think that he gets it. 

“I’m talking about an altogether different phenomenon and that is the structure of a universal Church that comprises 1.2bn people, half of whom are women, and who do not have appropriate vehicles at parish, diocesan or universal level that fully respect the role they play in the Church or could play in the Church,” Ms McAleese said.

She previously caused a stir by stating that “a very large number” of Catholic priests are gay and the Church is in denial about the fact. “It isn’t so much the elephant in the room but a herd of elephants,” she said.  “I don’t like my Church’s attitude to gay people.

Things written by Pope Benedict, for example, were completely contradictory to modern science and to modern understanding, and to the understanding of most Catholics nowadays in relation to homosexuality.

For the political basis for voting "Yes,"   Fr. O’Donovan makes a statement of reasoning that ought to be inculcated into Christofascists in America.  Here are excerpts from Towleroad:

O’Donovan explained that churches “have views, ideals and laws about the family, and they quite properly teach their members about those views… But when we become legislators, as we do when we vote in referendums, we legislate as citizens for all our fellow citizens.”  He continued:

“It is possible to have deep and passionately-held convictions without seeking to have those convictions imposed by the state on fellow citizens who do not share them….Respect for the freedom of others who differ from us is part and parcel of the faith we profess. For these and for other reasons I will be voting Yes.”