Dec 23 2008
Surely he means heterosexual behaviour?
The Pope:
Pope Benedict said today that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
What an utterly ridiculous statement. I think there is a lot more of humanity that needs to be saved from heterosexual behaviours — violence by straight men against women and children, which is the vast majority of domestic abuse; child sex abuse which is predominantly an act of heterosexual men; the enforced subservience of women in many male-dominated cultures; sexual trafficking of women and children, including of course into Ireland…
Against this, just how will humanity be saved by condemning what two adult men or women do together in an act of love?
And shouldn’t the church be cleaning up its own house before obsessing over men who wear the occasional dress? Especially when the Pope in question has shown a bit of a fetish for clerical vestments himself…
4 responses so far
Actually, he said no such thing.
http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-24652
The full talk is only available in German and Italian,
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20081222_curia-romana_ge.html
As part of a much longer speech, he warned about the danger of Man trying to manipulate the nature of Man.
A bit of a fetish for clerical vestments? To quote yourself Karlin, what a ridiculous statement….
If the Pope was required to condemn everything the Church sees as sinful every time he spoke, then he’d never get anything done.
BTW, if you read John Allen’s report on the speech (http://ncrcafe.org/node/2342) there’s no direct mention of either homosexual or transsexual behaviour. I’d wait until there’s a complete transcript available before condemning.
Karlin,
go to http://freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=354494&p=235, and scroll down to post 16,053 by Teresa Benedatta for an English translation of the Pope’s speech.
I’ve just read the entire address in German, and have to say that it reads like a fairly obscure academic treatise rather than a papal rallying call. That said, the Pope would be well aware of how his address could and would be interpreted, and while the media summaries are a little questionable, yet what they say is pretty much in the fine print of the address. The Pope talks bout the ecology of man (sic), and how this is as important as saving the rain forest, and how it is seen principally in the union (in marriage) of a man and a woman.