The Roman Catholic Church under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI has been among the most outspoken Christian faiths in opposition to gay rights, especially gay marriage.
Telegraph.co.uk, Posted: 8/15/2010, 9:56 PM At the first public meeting of the Protest the Pope group, there was support for an attempt to stop Benedict XVI reaching an event in London next month. The audience was told that the pontiff must travel down a narrow suburban road to reach the campus of St Mary’s University College in Twickenham, where he is due to address 3,500 school children and students “in celebration of Catholic education”. A man calling himself Ray was applauded when he said: “Waldegrave Road is a narrow street. I don’t actually know how they intend getting the Pope in. Is he going to be helicoptered in or not? If he’s coming in by road, there’s a really good chance of blocking that road off. Let’s go for it.” The protest group, supported by secularists and homosexual equality campaigners, also plans a march through central London and a rally near Downing Street on the day that the Pope addresses 80,000 pilgrims in Hyde Park. It also emerged at the meeting in Richmond on Thursday night that security costs for the prayer vigil on Saturday, September 18th are estimated at £1.8million. As it is just one of three open-air events at which Benedict XVI will appear, it means the total bill to taxpayers for security during the four-day trip, which organisers have never spelled out in public, could top £6m.
TMZ, Posted: 8/9/2010, 9:30 PM Mel Gibson’s father has hit headlines after reportedly blasting the Catholic Church and declaring Pope Benedict XVI a "homosexual" on a U.S. radio show over the weekend. Hutton Gibson -- a 91-year-old former "Jeopardy" grand champion -- went on the Political Cesspool Radio Program to discuss the issues involving the Catholic Church. During the interview, Hutton is asked if he believes the Catholic Church has been "politicized" to the point where they can't address controversial issues such as homosexuality. Hutton responds, "It's not willing to do so because half of the people there in the Vatican are queer." When asked if he thinks Benedict is a homosexual, Hutton replies, "I certainly do ... why else would he put up with this" ... adding, "He's a slippery character." But there's more -- Hutton also claims the Pope is part of a Masonic conspiracy hell-bent on destroying the church from within. FYI -- Hutton is a regular attendee at Mel Gibson's mega-church in Malibu.
Daily Mail (U.K.), Posted: 7/23/2010, 9:43 AM A gay priest sex scandal has rocked the Catholic Church in Italy today after a weekly news magazine released details of a shock investigation it had carried out. Using hidden cameras, a journalist from Panorama magazine - owned by Italian Prime Minister and media baron Silvio Berlusconi - filmed three priests as they attended gay nightspots and had casual sex. Today there was no immediate comment from the Italian Bishops Conference and the Vatican - which has been rocked by a series of sex scandals involving paedophile priests since the start of the year. A preview of the Panorama article sent out by email last night added that video footage from the investigation would be made available. The article describes how the reporter was assisted by a gay 'accomplice' as they 'gate-crashed the wild nights of a number of priests in Rome who live a surprising double-life.' In it's preview, Panorama added: 'By day they are regular priests, complete with dog collar, but, at night it's off with the cassock as they take their place as perfectly integrated members of the Italian capital's gay scene.' Panorama described its investigation as 'deeply disturbing' as it detailed how three priests - two Italians and a Frenchman - happily took part in gay events and had casual sex. The Catholic Church forbids priests to have sex and homosexuality is also seen as a 'sin' .
The Independent (U.K.), Posted: 7/20/2010, 6:16 AM A renegade Argentinian priest who publicly supports gay marriage has vowed to defy his archbishop's orders to stop celebrating Mass. Jose Alessio, a Roman Catholic priest, backs a bill being debated in Congress this week that would grant homosexual couples marriage and adoption rights, flouting Church doctrine and subjecting himself to sanctions. "I feel I'm in communion with God, my people and the Gospel, regardless of whether a bishop or the Pope decides to excommunicate me," he told the BAE newspaper. President Cristina Fernandez supports the proposal on human rights grounds, which has angered religious groups in the nominally Catholic country. If the bill is passed, Argentina will be one of a handful of countries to have such a law. Tens of thousands of Argentinians protested against the bill on Tuesday, although opinion polls show a majority of people support gay marriage. There is less backing for same-sex couples to adopt children. Fr Alessio has come out in favour of both measures, prompting the archbishop of central Cordoba to temporarily bar him from exercising his pastoral duties while his case is weighed by a Church tribunal. The priest said he would not obey the "authoritarian" order, adding he was not afraid of being forced out of the Church. Senators started debating the bill at midday yesterday before putting it to a vote.
Edge Boston, Posted: 7/7/2010, 8:03 AM A Roman Catholic priest in Waterbury, Connecticut has been accused of stealing more than $1 million from his parish and spending the money on lavish meals, clothing--and encounters with male prostitutes. Kevin Gray, 64, a longtime priest at Waterbury’s Sacred Heart church, fleeced his parishioners to the tune of $1.3 million over a seven-year period, according to a July 6 report in local newspaper the Republican-American. Gray’s alleged financial misdeeds were uncovered when the church’s finances were subjected to scrutiny during an internal review process, the article said; meantime, Gray had told unsuspecting parishioners that he was suffering with cancer, a story authorities believe were meant to explain why he was away from the church so much. In truth, the story said, Gray was living the high life, going into Manhattan and racking up exorbitant restaurant and hotel bills, and hiring the services of male escorts. The Catholic Church teaches that gays and lesbians are sexually "disordered," but recognizes that homosexuality is not a choice. However, the church also teachers that sexual acts between individuals of the same gender are "intrinsically evil," and has worked tirelessly to defeat--and in some cases, rescind--civil marriage rights for gay and lesbian families. In 2006, Gray presided over ceremonies during "Catholic Celebration of Marriage Week," in which heterosexual couples renewed their vows at Sacred Heart church.
CNN, Posted: 6/28/2010, 8:14 AM WATCH: This year, as for the past 12 years or more, parishioners from St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church have marched under their church banner in New York's colorful Gay Pride parade. But this year, there was a difference. Their banner was blank, missing the name of the church. New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan asked the church's pastor to keep St. Francis' name out of the picture. The parish was told that the archdiocese's spiritual leader was concerned the church might be seen as endorsing some elements of the gay pride march that may advocate a promiscuous lifestyle. "Our people are not endorsing that at all," said the church's pastor, the Rev. Joe Costantino. Members of the gay ministries of St. Francis Xavier say they view the parade as an opportunity to welcome gay Catholics back into the fold. They hand out welcome brochures to reach out to anyone watching the march. "Perhaps some people come to St. Francis because they don't feel judged," said Stephanie Samoy, a self-proclaimed lesbian who has been active in the parish for several years.
New York Times, Posted: 6/1/2010, 5:47 PM Every job interview has its awkward moments, but in recent years, the standard interview for men seeking a life in the Roman Catholic priesthood has made the awkward moment a requirement. “When was the last time you had sex?” all candidates for the seminary are asked. (The preferred answer: not for three years or more.) “What kind of sexual experiences have you had?” is another common question. “Do you like pornography?” Depending on the replies, and the results of standardized psychological tests, the interview may proceed into deeper waters: “Do you like children?” and “Do you like children more than you like people your own age?” It is part of a soul-baring obstacle course prospective seminarians are forced to run in the aftermath of a sexual abuse crisis that church leaders have decided to confront, in part, by scrubbing their academies of potential molesters, according to church officials and psychologists who screen candidates in New York and the rest of the country. But many of the questions are also aimed at another, equally sensitive mission: deciding whether gay applicants should be denied admission under complex recent guidelines from the Vatican that do not explicitly bar all gay candidates but would exclude most of them, even some who are celibate. Scientific studies have found no link between sexual orientation and abuse, and the church is careful to describe its two initiatives as more or less separate. One top adviser to American seminaries characterized them as “two circles that might overlap here and there.”
New York Times, Posted: 5/28/2010, 5:54 AM Deepening the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, a special investigator released a report on Thursday saying that 205 former students claimed they had been abused in Jesuit schools, including at the prestigious Canisius-Kolleg in Berlin. The investigator, Ursula Raue, said the actual number could be higher. “We cannot expect to have heard everything yet,” she said. “The question must be asked why the order dealt so dismissively with the well-based information about frequent incidents of sexual abuse in its institutions.” Father Stefan Dartmann, Germany’s leading Jesuit official, immediately issued a statement acknowledging “with shame and guilt, our failure.” “I ask for forgiveness,” he said, adding that there was a “widespread mentality in the order, and perhaps still is, that the primary concern was the reputation of the institution and its fellow brothers.” The report is the latest blow to a church weathering its most serious crisis over sexual abuse, here in Germany and around the world. Pope Benedict XVI, who has faced accusations that he or his subordinates did not take strong enough actions in several cases in Germany and elsewhere, has acknowledged the depth of the problem, this month calling the crisis “truly terrifying.” The Jesuit order in Germany had asked Ms. Raue to look into allegations of sexual abuse after 25 students came forward alleging abuse at Canisius. At three schools, a priest called Father Bertram beat 50 students in a “sadistic sexual” way on their bare or clothed buttocks in the 1970s and 1980s. According to the investigation, Father Bertram underwent years of therapy. Before leaving the order, he confessed in 1991 to having suffered emotional problems that led him to beat children.
Posted: 5/19/2010, 10:21 AM Roman Catholic bishops in Portugal have denounced their president's decision to legalize same-sex marriage. The bishops, calling the move a step backward for the traditional family, said the president had gone against one of the most established principles of the different civilizations of mankind. A spokesman for the church said the pope had stressed on a recent visit to the highly Catholic country, that the essential and primary values of life included the “indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman.” A bill legalizing same-sex marriages was passed by the Portuguese parliament in February and signed into law on Monday. President Cavaco Silva, a self-identified Catholic, had a choice to exercise his veto power on the matter. Politicians opposed to the measure had called for a nationwide referendum on the matter. The president said that he put aside his personal convictions to approve the legislation, making Portugal the sixth country in Europe to allow same-sex unions.
Boston Globe, Posted: 5/14/2010, 12:15 PM Mary Grassa O’Neill, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Boston Archdiocese, crafted an admirable compromise to the disappointing rejection of a child with lesbian parents by St. Paul Elementary School in Hingham. And the Catholic Schools Foundation, chaired by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, took a courageous step in asserting that Catholic schools with exclusionary admissions policies will not receive foundation grants. Both the foundation and O’Neill sent important signals that the region’s Catholic leadership does not share the opinions of the school in Hingham, which withdrew its acceptance of an 8-year-old boy, apparently because his parents are a lesbian couple. The school’s decision was rash and hard-hearted. But O’Neill, rather than seek to overrule local officials, called one of the boy’s parents and offered to help enroll the child in another Catholic school. It’s a sensitive gesture, since the boy will thus be spared any backlash from the controversy in Hingham. At times, Catholic institutions have sought to punish individuals whose lives conflict with church teachings. Sometimes, those punishments serve mainly to point up double standards. The church regards homosexuality as a sin. But the church also disapproves of divorce, adultery, sex before marriage, and a range of other practices. Taking aim at gay families, who are more vulnerable in society, rather than the larger numbers of divorced parents or straight couples engaging in sex outside marriage, seems less an act of principle than of prejudice.
Andrew Sullivan, Posted: 8/16/2010, 10:53 AM
QUICK LOOK:It seems pretty obvious to me that the current Pope is a gay man (just as it was blindingly clear that John Paul II was straight). I am not claiming that Benedict is someone who has explored his sexuality, or has violated his own strictures on the matter. There is absolutely no evidence of that, or of hypocrisy of any sort. But that does not mean that he isn't gay. In fact, Ratzinger's command that gay priests should actively lie about their orientation makes any public statement about this on its face lacking in credibility. But when you look at the Pope's mental architecture (I've read a great deal of his writing over the last two decades) you do see that strong internal repression does make sense of his life and beliefs. At times, it seems to me, his gayness is almost wince-inducing. Toibin notes Ratzinger's extremely close relationship with Georg Ganswein, his personal secretary, referred to by some priests I know as Gay.org.
Andrew Sullivan, Posted: 4/1/2010, 5:21 PM
QUICK LOOK:I figured we had gotten past this canard but since Bill Donohue is on every television and radio show loudly proclaiming that the church's abuses can be attributed to "homosexuals", and therefore it is homosexuality and not the church that stands in the dock, it requires some unpacking. Here's Donohue's valid point. In some of the reports on the sex abuse crisis, the impression is sometimes given that all the offenses are against children in the classic pedophile sense - pre-pubescent. The John Jay Report found that 22 percent of the cases of abuse in America were with children under the age of ten, 51% were between the ages of 11 and 14, and 15 percent were aged 16 or older. Eighty percent were same-sex abuse. So you can see how you can say that the majority of the cases were same-sex acts between men and male teens who were sexually past puberty. Hence, in Donohue's blinkered eyes, the gays did it. And if we get rid of all the gays, we may be unfair to many of them, but at least we can get rid of the abuse. But here's why Donohue's attempt to blame the crisis on homosexuals as such is so wrong. First, the critical issue is abuse, not orientation. The abuse of a young or teenage boy is no different in its nature than the abuse of a young or teenage girl. The sin is the abuse of power, and the use of religious authority to subject the defenseless to an adult's sexual gratification.
Times of London, Posted: 12/29/2008, 1:13 PM
QUICK LOOK:BY TERRY PRONE: Pope Benedict XVI says that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction. His controversial comments were all over the international media last week. They shouldn’t have been, according to the Iona Institute, a faith-based organisation. Because he didn’t say that at all. So what he actually said was: “We need something like human ecology, meant in the right way. The Church speaks of human nature as ‘man’ or ‘woman’ and asks that this order is respected. This is not out-of-date metaphysics. It comes from the faith in the Creator and from listening to the language of creation, despising which would mean self-destruction for humans and therefore a destruction of the work itself of God.” Clear on that, now? Me neither.
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