Dear Editor-

April 2013’s issue of Zephyrus contained an article called, “Edinans have high hopes for new Pope Francis I”.

I disagree. I am from Edina, I am gay and I do not have high hopes for Pope Francis I’s time in the Papacy. The idea that Edinans are approving of the new pope is quite a sweeping statement that, for me, borders on offensive.

You see, from my perspective, the reason why the Catholic Church’s membership is declining because of its positions on social issues. A pope with a new perspective that addresses poverty is not going to change anything (in my opinion) because it isn’t addressing the core issues that are facing the Catholic Church- Homophobia as well as other social issues. However, I am going to focus on homophobia so those other issues are another story.

Your omission of Pope Francis I’s inflammatory statements about homosexuals while saying that Edinans are in support of him is upsetting to me. In your article, you never interviewed any gay students, which makes the story seem one sided to the point of being offensive, at least in my opinion. The perspective of gay Edinans (We do exist, by the way) is going to be different from the perspective you described in the article. Saying that Edinans approve of Pope Francis I implies that ALL Edinans approve of him- Which is untrue, as many of us are personally affected by his homophobic statements.

Why would I have high hopes for a man who believes that I am a pervert who is going against God’s plan and will be going to hell? Because that, from what I have read, is rhetoric that is very common, if not universal, among high ranking Catholics. Pope Francis seems to strongly agree with that rhetoric.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,

Senior Johnny Ralph Horstman

PS: Please do not take this letter personally. You guys do a great job of creating every issue of Zephyrus and I have nothing but respect for you guys. I am not accusing anyone of Zephyrus of being homophobic, I am simply commenting on the article that made its way into the front page of Zephyrus. It ignores Pope Francis I’s homophobia and thus seems, to me, to be an implicit endorsement of the Pope’s anti-gay statements. I know that it wasn’t intentional, though, so I am not judging the writer of the article. I just wanted you all to know how I feel, as an Edinan, about it.