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Pope faces mass uprising over divorce and gays

The Pope is facing the biggest revolt of his papacy as half a million Catholics, including senior cardinals and archbishops, demand that he back down over his liberal stance for gays and divorced people

The traditionalists have signed a petition “imploring” the Argentinian pontiff to use a Vatican synod in October to publicly oppose, once and for all, homosexual unions and the granting of communion to remarried divorcees.

“A word from Your Holiness is the only way to clarify the growing confusion amongst the faithful,” states the so-called Filial Appeal.

John Richie, of the American organisation TFP Student Action, which launched the petition, said: “If the enemies of the family continue to chip away at holy matrimony, the future of the family and civilisation itself