Papal choice signals stability, change
[...] while the former Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio also shares the city's passion for social justice, his conservative views on issues such as same-sex marriage couldn't be more at odds with some in his West Coast flock.
If gays and lesbians hoped for change in the Catholic Church, they were disappointed by the selection Wednesday of a man who has called same-sex marriage "a machination of the Father of Lies."
Presiding over a 170-student school where 60 percent of the kids are Latino and 65 percent are low-income, Martinez - who grew up three blocks away - was excited about the promise of a Spanish-speaking Jesuit who focuses on the church's core mission of tending to society's least fortunate.
In his first words as pope Wednesday, he humbly identified himself as the bishop of Rome, instead of a worldwide leader, said Thomas Cattoi, an associate professor of Christology and cultures at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University.
The contempt for the rights of individuals and peoples are so far away, the rule of money with its demonic effects as drugs, corruption, trafficking people - including children - along with material and moral poverty are big problems.
No shift on gay rightsYet on one social issue - whether to grant gays and lesbians the same social standing as heterosexuals - the new pontiff's views are as hard-line as his immediate Vatican predecessors'.
During a 2010 battle over a same-sex marriage measure in Argentina, the then-cardinal referred to gay nuptials as "a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."
Many challenges The new pope's challenges are many, starting with sexual abuse cases.
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