Holy George Ringo! Despite their retro-robes and goofy hats, is Holy See more progressive America when it comes to gay rights? Today the Vatican–and that means Pope Benny 16 who talks directly to God and–like, gets answers–urged countries around the world to decriminalize homosexuality, while the United States still hasn’t weighed in:
The Holy See continues to advocate that every sign of unjust discrimination toward homosexual persons should be avoided and urges States to do away with criminal penalties against them.
However, in what appears to be concerns about equal marriage rights, the Vatican singled out the categories of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in the text, saying "these would create serious uncertainty in the law."
Earlier, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, Archbishop Celestino Migliore trotted out the hoary Big Lie, that the proposed text of the declaration could lead to reverse discrimination against traditional heterosexual marriage.
If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations. For example, states which do not recognize same-sex unions as ‘matrimony’ will be pilloried and made an object of pressure
which is a load of malarkey. In many European countries, you must have a civil marriage before you are religiously married–and many progressive couples have chosen to simply have the civil ceremony.
Hopefully God will clear that up with Pope later this week–and maybe remind our officials that signing the United Nations statement on the decriminalization of homosexuality will go a long way to making the United States a force of moral good in the world.
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Thanks Lisa.
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Although they generally don’t like to publicize it, according to a long tradition in the Roman Catholic Church any sex that is not “open” to the possibility of procreation, Casti Connubii is intrinsically sinful.
OT, according to Roman Catholic canon law, if a married RC gets divorced and legally remarried (but without a Church sanctioned annulment,which are always very hard to get unless you’re (Rudy G., a Kennedy or someone else very famous and) and very wealthy), priests cannot given them the sacraments. That’s a spiritual death sentence.
Now, if a Roman Catholic priest has repeated sex with minor partners (almost always male), they get anything they want. They get to not only continue to receive the sacraments, they get to continue to preside over them. They get never-ending absolution, treatment for alcoholism or whatever else they want, a new parish, a new assignment, anything, because the RC Church has a huge labor shortage. When you only ordain one gender and then make them promise permanent celibacy, it shrinks the pool of applicants.
Catholics from outside the Roman tradition, Orthodox and others have stayed with the tradition of optional celibacy that dates back to Jesus of Nazareth. Pole Hildebrand jettisoned the “optional” part around the 12th century.
Much of the rest of Christianity has embraced the idea that God’s grace can work through either gender as an ordained minister.