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Loading...Pope: Same-Sex Marriage Threatens “Humanity Itself”
Has the Vatican forgotten that “humanity” includes LGBT people? On Monday, Pope Benedict XVI denounced the growing world-wide support for LGBT rights, calling same-sex marriage a threat to “humanity itself.”
The rhetoric was part of the pope’s annual New Year’s speech to Vatican diplomats representing 180 countries. Some have called the pontiff’s remarks his most homophobic to date.
“Family … [is] based on the marriage of a man and a woman,” he told the crowd, reports Reuters. “This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.”
The Vatican address follows an unfortunate trend of Catholic intolerance for LGBT equality. Chicago Cardinal Francis George recently compared gay pride celebrants to the Ku Klux Klan. Last year in New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan protested the state’s same-sex marriage bill with fear-mongering of anti-Catholic persecution. Dolan also said that same-sex marriage opens the door to legalizing polygamy.
Numerous studies have countered the argument that same-sex families are inferior or harmful to children. Research about lesbian families shows that kids raised by two mothers frequently outperform their peers in psychological, behavioral and academic tests. Some findings even indicate that lesbian families are free of child abuse.
Recent statistics out of New York suggest that legalizing same-sex unions would also boost the nation’s declining marriage numbers, rather than disrupt or invalidate heterosexual marriages as many conservative critics claim.
Around the globe, LGBT people of faith reacted to the Pope’s speech with disappointment. Victor De Sousa, originally from Portugal, told the Sydney Morning Herald that he doesn’t agree with Pope Benedict. “It just hurts me as a gay man, especially coming from a Catholic background and truly believing in God,” he said. De Sousa and partner Chris Murray hope to marry soon at a Portuguese consulate.
“I know people say it’s just a piece of paper, but it would mean the world to me to be legally married under the law like everyone else,” De Sousa told the Herald. ”To have the priests reading the vows would mean the world to me.”
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Read more: bisexual, catholic, catholic church, catholicism, civil rights, gay, gay marriage, gay rights, homosexuality, lesbian, lgbt, lgbt rights, marriage equality, pope, pope benedict xvi, queer, religion, same-sex marriage, separation of church and state, the pope, the vatican, timothy dolan, transgender
Photo credit: Beyond Forgetting (Creative Commons Attribution License)
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The Popes a dope! Religion is the menace to civilization and is becoming the biggest threat to the survival of civilization. Over population is the biggest problem facing mankind and it is largely fueled by religious rules and regulations. All religions have arisen out of human ignorance and religious idiots are in one way or another responsible for most of the world's problems. It is a shame that we humans are so intellectually challenged that we made up supernatural forces to help us understand the world around us.We should have shaved off all this superstitious hogwaller as we gained knowledge through the ages.
Leaves me totally voiceless!
If the Pope had any humanity in one sense, he'd be able to understand humanity, in both senses.
Wouldn't it be great if the Catholic Church used their vast influence to clean up their own house? Instead they vilify same sex marriages, and just let a priest get married and he is ex-communicated instead of being transferred to another parish as is the practice with priests who are pedophiles. There is a total lack of morality and decency in this mindset.
Voi Paavi raukka vanha hoopo äijä, aivan kuin ei olisi tiennyt että maailmassa on monen kaltaisia sexuaalisia vähemmistöjä, niihin johonkin hän itsekin kuuluu, poika oppilaineen.
Voidaan vain esittää epäilyksiä myös hänen, aikanaan sekaantuneen nuoriin poikiin !!!
"This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society"
I guess the pope doesn't study much social history. Marriage, as it's practiced today is a relatively new phenomena. It isn't even mentioned in early translations of the bible and there is certainly no mention about the union being only a man and a woman.
This pathetic excuse for a man doesn't deserve the respect or support from anybody.
He is a stupid Beotch!!!
"I can't be the only one who looks at Ratzinger and sees Emperor Palpatine."
lol, now that you mention it, I do see a resemblance.
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