“Pope Francis put the American Catholic Church on blast” links

Pope Francis laments the politicizing and “reactionary” Catholic Church in America. He’s not wrong, but… it’s not just in America, dude. [Towleroad]
Bradley Cooper & Irina Shayk will attend the Venice Film Festival? [LaineyGossip]
What is Temu? I’ve literally never heard of it. [Pajiba]
Lily Allen really loves to dress up to leave the theater. [Go Fug Yourself]
Josh Seiter is not dead, it was all fake. [Socialite Life]
I did not know that 80-year-old Calvin Klein has a “longtime” 35-year-old boyfriend. The boyfriend’s name is Kevin Baker. [Just Jared]
Handmaid and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett thinks people have “misimpressions” of the SCOTUS. [Jezebel]
Yara Shahidi wore Anonlychild. [RCFA]
Miley Cyrus was in Big Fish when she was a kid. [Seriously OMG]
Camila Mendes is vacationing in Capri. [Egotastic]
Sheryl Lee Ralph skipped her college graduation. [Buzzfeed]
A 90 Day Fiance star got bigger implants. [Starcasm]

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31 Responses to ““Pope Francis put the American Catholic Church on blast” links”

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  1. QuiteContrary says:

    I’m glad Francis has called out reactionary bishops in the U.S., but it comes too late for me and my family.

    • liz says:

      And mine. Growing up, you had to be dead or dying to be excused from 10:15 mass on Sunday mornings. I have a LGBTQ+ (young) adult child. I haven’t set foot in a Catholic church, other than for my father’s funeral, in 6 or 7 years. And the commentary from some of other attendees when neither my brother nor I took communion was astonishing (and unbelievably rude).

      • HuffnPuff says:

        Yes too many Catholics are drunk on the koolaid that told them it was okay to hate and look down on others. Good luck getting to them now. The church never should have signed on to all of it because now all people see is the hypocrisy. Always front and center on abortion. Nowhere to be seen on gun violence, healthcare, childcare, climate change, income inequality and anything else that is life affirming. I tried explaining this to my dad but he wouldn’t hear of it. He will vote Republican because he thinks that’s what the church wants him to do.

      • QuiteContrary says:

        Same, Liz. If the church won’t allow my child to marry, I don’t want any part of it.

        I’m sorry about your father’s passing.

      • StellainNH says:

        The pendulum has certainly swung sharply with the American Catholics. I’m old enough to remember Father Paul Drinan, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts. He was a pro choice, anti Vietnam War priest who had to resign because the Catholic Church didn’t want politically active priests.

      • North of Boston says:

        I still remember the US bishops who went up one side and down the other of the nuns who were providing support services to those in need in their community (helping with finding employment, housing, meals, providing a safe space, conversation, a helping hand) and were advocating for accessible affordable healthcare for all. The bishops sanctioned them, and told them to knock it off, focus less on working against poverty and social injustice and focus instead on ‘important ‘ priorities like #1 opposing abortion rights and gay marriage #2 sit down and shut up and do with the men (ie bishops) tell them to do.

        One of those two groups was behaving closely in line with the teachings of Jesus (ie basically love God and love your neighbor (including strangers) as yourself, providing aid and care when needed, oh in case it’s not obvious from the first 2 parts, don’t be a lying hateful greedy hypocritical shithead). It wasn’t the bullying US bishops.

        The leadership of the US Catholic Church has completely lost the plot. This, they’re embracing of MAGAist extremism, their horrendous cruelty complicity and coverups of decades of abuse of tens of thousands of children and other vulnerable people by priests and other church officials … enough already! (I was raised Catholic but bailed after seeing the reaction of local officials near Boston when the abuse scandal broke)

    • Lightpurple says:

      He has called them out several times in the past 2 years. He needs to start handing down discipline

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        Yeah, if the American church were going all left wing, he’d be doing a hell of a lot more than lamenting.

  2. Ameerah M says:

    Temu is the new Shein – so basically the Fast Fashion Devil

  3. NJGR says:

    The pope thinks it’s “selfish” not to have lids, and I believe he’s still saying stupid crap about trans people, so he has very little moral high ground.

  4. Mesha Nova says:

    I’m proud to NOT be a part of the Catholic church anymore, an organization worth 30 billion (the richest in the world) that’s constantly begging for money (heaven help you if you don’t donate money to the collection plate every single Sunday). I looked it up, the church collects around 300 million a year in donations and spends just that amount only. Yet, they’re sitting on a mountain of money like Smaug the dragon. What happened to giving to the poor? They could help so many but they choose not to. Can never support such obvious hypocrisy. And Pope Francis has said awful things against women in church leadership roles, so no, he scores no points from me. Nada….

    • Brassy Rebel says:

      Proud recovering Catholic since 1975 here 🙋. I got really tired of being told in so many words every Sunday that, as a woman, I’m not as good as any man. They’ve been on this “drive everyone away” project for a very long time.

      • Mesha Nova says:

        Here, here! I’ve come too far in life to be told I’m not good enough because I was born a woman. No thank you.

        Congrats to you for kicking it! My mother never stopped being a “good Catholic.” But she became so disillusioned with all the sex scandals involving kids. We both felt heartsick over it. That’s when I quit. My mom kept going to church (because of her friends) but she was never the same. Their conduct is unforgiveable, if you ask me.

      • Christina says:

        Yeah, I’m 55 now, and I left the church at 11 because of the hypocrisy, but had to continue to go because it was a huge part of my culture. I stopped going as soon as I had the choice.

        @Liz, the rudeness when you don’t take communion is mind blowing. If you stay seated while everyone gets up, you are automatically othered, and that’s the point, isn’t it? The church teaches you to go after others, to police others, especially women.

  5. Brandy Alexander says:

    Maybe it’s just because I live in a liberal area, but I have been pleased with my Catholic Church the last couple of years. They sent out a letter last election that asked people to consider ALL issues and not just abortion when voting in the last election (the subtext was definitely “Please don’t vote for Trump”, and the priests at my specific church don’t say it’s ok to hate anyone. They very much preach a live and let live attitude. So, I have hopes the Catholic Church can turn it around in America. In any case, I just let what speaks to my heart in, and dismiss the stuff I don’t agree with. I figure the Bible was still written by men, no religion has it exactly correct.

    • stephanie says:

      My catholic church, too. At mine, there was a MAGA guy increasingly spouting extremist views in front of everyone until a priest pulled him aside. I think the guy assumed that all Catholic churches allow this kind of talk when most of them do not. My teenager goes to different parishes for mass on weekends depending on her schedule and she thinks priests really are talking a lot about social problems important to her as a young democrat. I feel like the minority of Catholics playing God are ruining it for the rest of us normal Catholics. Pope Francis is again making a positive effort here.

      • Paddingtonjr says:

        @Stephanie, I agree. My Catholic Church is very involved in social issues, both locally and internationally. We are a welcoming parish that has openly 🏳️‍🌈 members (and a ministry) and has sponsored public meetings regarding the child sexual abuse scandals. There are some Catholics who have weaponized religion politically but they are the vocal minority.

    • Becks1 says:

      Catholic churches around me are like this too; I’m from Baltimore so we’re super blue and the churches reflect that for the most part (and it is known which are more conservative.) I didn’t realize until I was in HS that Democrats were pro-choice because everyone I knew was a Catholic and a Democrat, lol.

      But, the Catholic church as a whole is still problematic even if someone’s parish is great. The church still restricts women from leadership roles, it still hordes money, and it still participated in one of the most reprehensible cover-ups in history (referring to child sex abuse.) My state released a report last month with details about the priests moved around to hide their abuse. One of those priests was at my parish church. He was the pastor. Of a parish church with a huge elementary school with hundreds and hundreds of kids who were regularly sent to the rectory alone to stuff bulletins and other things. It makes me sick just to think about it.

      And I can’t get over that to return to the church.

      • Stephanie says:

        Most powerful male-dominated organizations eventually abuse their power and instinctually cover it up forever, if we let them. Its religious organizations, the Boy Scouts, the music industry, and even elite medical networks like UCLA Medical System gaslight patients for years in order to defend serial predator male doctors. And NHS Hospitals had 35,000 abuse complaints internally in a five-year period. However, the music industry and corporate America have never really had their reckoning. Yet.

  6. girl_ninja says:

    He is absolutely right and has said this for years, but they don’t listen so…

    I wonder if the affection that Bradley shows Irina is because of their years together and co-parenting their child or him seeing Brady as a threat?

    And seriously, what in the Shein is Temu? Why are they a thing?

    They already have bad reviews for Netflix’s Invictus Games series from people who just started their accounts in August on IMDB. Trash people.

  7. Mrs.Krabapple says:

    The misogynistic Catholic Church has literally killed women by opposing access to birth control and abortion across the globe. They have blood on their hands, and I have zero respect for the church or its pope, regardless of how “progressive” people think he is.

  8. Ariel says:

    I am an atheist but as creepy religious leaders go, this one is not as bad as most.
    I think I read on threads someone asking Christian people if they are “classic Jesus” followers or “republican Jesus” followers.

    The vocal minority in this country are just bigots wrapped in the flag and holding up a cross.

    They’d spit on Jesus if he came back.

  9. Bee (not THAT Bee) says:

    Francis looks like Rudy Guiliani, just missing the hair dye.

  10. Dhavynia says:

    I also was not aware that Calvin Klein at 80 had a 35 yr old boyfriend. I’m but he looks like his grandfather, CK looks so old and frail and yeah I know he’s 80 but I guess I still have an image of him FROM the 80s lol

  11. Alex says:

    Wow, talk about throwing a big ass boulder around in your glass Vatican.

  12. ElleE says:

    In response to the Pope: “what did I do??”

    Anyway, he’s not wrong because these zealots in some factions of the US Catholic Church, I don’t mean the Franciscans or the Jesuits, etc. I mean the nut job Catholics, are just so embarrassing.

    It’s not exactly the same thing, but I know how Muslims must feel when the biggest crackpots in their religion have power and make everyone look bad.

    The pope is from South America so he’s not having this zealot crap going on under his roof. If anyone’s going to be a zealot, it would be THE POPE and he’s not saying this crazy evangelical stuff.

  13. phlyfiremama says:

    Stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine, you pretentious old windbag. The Catholic church has been directly responsible for so many atrocities in the history of mankind, stealing treasures and cultures freely with zero consequences, committing genocide against multiple civilizations, and is incredibly corrupt.

  14. DaisyMay says:

    At first I was quite inspired by Pope Francis, but I think he is slipping in his old age. He recently told some Russian students to be proud of their imperialistic leaders, Peter and Catherine the Great. Playing right into Putin’s evil delusion.
    The Dalai Lama made a serious faux pas earlier this year too.

  15. bisynaptic says:

    ‘Barrett also said that, when she was a Supreme Court clerk in the late 90s, the pre-digital news era, the justices were so under the radar that people would sometimes ask them for directions. (She clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, who took so many free, undisclosed trips that he literally died on one.) “People just didn’t recognize who the justices were,” Barrett said. “I think that’s better. I don’t think justices should be recognizable in that sense.”’
    ACB prefers the good ole’ days of anonymous graft.