COLUMN: Is There Hope for Francis on Gay Rights?

Pope Francis comes from one of only eleven countries where same-sex marriage is legal. In Argentina, where Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, as he was known until Wednesday, was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the population is mostly Roman Catholic, and yet same-sex marriage became legal there in July, 2010, a full year before the law changed in New York. (It is the first Latin American country with marriage equality.) Yet any Catholics who were hoping that new leadership would modernize (even a little) the Church and its teaching when it comes to the issue of homosexuality will likely be disappointed.