Before I begin, I should clarify 1) I firmly stand against the transphobia that has seen a rise since yesterday 2) I don’t condone violence like what happened either, and 3) I don’t fully know how the papacy structure currently works
When the Bolsheviks killed the Romanovs, the pope at the time instantly canonized the Romanovs and that was the biggest PR blow to the Bolsheviks. Today there’s a pope who people show pride in as being from America, specifically Chicago. And he even speaks English. Anything he or even a top cardinal says on the Minneapolis matter is going to have weight when it comes to trans individuals. I guess my question is, if I am to say I fear that the shooter awakened a sleeping giant, how do we, you know, put the giant back to sleep without it misstepping anywhere? This isn’t just a worrywort talking, I’ve seen shit happen and know how things can go downhill fast. There must be some emergency “halt papal discussion of the topic” button somewhere.
Let us hope. Not defending either of these two individuals, but Pope Leo wasn’t afraid of throwing shade on Donald Trump due to his practices involving ICE at the most vulnerable moments, which follows Pope Francis who was equally political but more about social progress (e.g. climate change). Both of these popes, as well as Pope Benedict, always used to stop just short of declaring full tolerance towards LGBT practices while trying to appeal to the LGBT crowd, so let’s hope this is their limit.