And on the Other Hand

That thumping sound is the USCCB fainting and hitting the floor:

A survivor of clerical sexual abuse has said Pope Francis told him that God had made him gay and loved him, in arguably the most strikingly accepting comments about homosexuality to be uttered by the leader of the Roman Catholic church.

Juan Carlos Cruz, who spoke privately with the pope two weeks ago about the abuse he suffered at the hands of one of Chile’s most notorious paedophiles, said the issue of his sexuality had arisen because some of the Latin American country’s bishops had sought to depict him as a pervert as they accused him of lying about the abuse.

“He told me, ‘Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are,’” Cruz told Spanish newspaper El País.

This is not a random occurrence -- Francis has made similar comments in the past, though not as straightforward as this.

Via Joe.My.God.

And it seems to be part of a trend:

The Archbishop of Canterbury has admitted that gay people have been “appallingly” treated by the Church of England.

Archbishop Justin Welby has been at the centre of splits in both the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion over LGBT issues.

 Liberal clergy are pushing for a more accepting stance towards same-sex couples, while traditionalists want the Church to stick by teachings that homosexuality is “unnatural”.

For "traditionalists" read "reactionaries," who somehow remain convinced that the 4,000 year old tribal taboos of a group of Middle Eastern nomads form the basis of morality. And it seems that the heaviest resistance to change in the Anglican Communion is coming from the African bishops, who think that the worst aspects of the colonial period are somehow "African."

Well, I wish them both luck. They're going to need it.