Most Notable Quotations of 2013 So Far?

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 5:27 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

>>"Se una persona è gay e cerca il Signore e ha buona volontà, ma chi
>>sono io per giudicarla?" ("If someone is gay and is searching for the
>>Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?") -- Pope Francis,
>>July 28, 2013

> Others have suggested this quotation to me as a candidate for one of the most notable quotations of the year.  I would consider it as such if I believed it signaled some major change in the Church's attitudes toward homosexuality, but I have not regarded it as a serious candidate because I don't expect that it will signal any major change by the Church.

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FWIW, I think Ben's suggestion of including Pope Francis's personal
observation is a good one, Fred, though I defer to you since you know
the kind of thing you're after.

Still, earlier you had written, "[b]y 'notable' I mean 'important” or
'famous' or 'particularly revealing of the spirit of our times' rather
than necessarily being eloquent or admirable."  Based on this and a
general, slowly evolving attitude regarding homosexuality, at least in
U.S. culture, I think that the comment by the Pope is significant,
even if he were speaking for himself and not the church.  (It also may
signal that we have a Pope who's willing to go rogue sometimes, which
I think is a little different.)

Me, I think it's worth holding onto, at least for a while.

-- Bonnie

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