ROSES AND A CONCILIATORY POPE

On this overcast day, with a threat of rain, I was out on my bedroom balcony watering the coleus, when I looked down and saw five "peace" roses on one stem in the garden below. The sight of something so beautiful just blew me away. I had to capture that beauty for the house. I clipped the stem and realized it had been six roses (one had faded).  It's in a vase in my kitchen where I can enjoy it's fragile and fleeting beauty for another day or two.  

Meanwhile, I'm reading The New York Times and find that Pope Francis told a bunch of reporters on the plane returning to Rome from Brazil, that essentially he cannot judge gay priests. Will this startling revelation pave the way for gay people to be out in the Catholic church, or even allow gay priests into the priesthood?  This pope is an interesting man, who just may lead the church into the modern world.