Gay marriage is a threat to "humanity itself," according to the Pope
By Virginia SmithJanuary 11th, 2012, 12:30 pmComments (29)
In his outlandishly named "State of the World" address this week, Pope Benedict XVI came out swinging against gay marriage, slamming it as a factor that "undermine[s] the family," and "threaten[s] human dignity and the future of humanity itself." Yes, all of humanity!
He continued, "Pride of place goes to family, based on the marriage of a man and woman. This is not a simple convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society." Even from a source as predictably opposed to gay marriage as, you know, the head of the Catholic church, this is still a little intense. He's also set to elevate New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, to the position of cardinal.
However, the Pope is nothing if not a big-picture kind of guy, and saved some derision for abortion, too, railing against laws that "not only permit but at times even promote abortion for reasons of convenience or for questionable medical motives."
Again, nothing's too surprising about the Pope opposing gay marriage and abortion rights, but are these really the biggest issues to focus on right now when considering the "state" of the entire world?
Commentarium (29 Comments)
"Pride of place goes to family, based on the marriage of a man and woman." Which is, of course, why the Pope and all the priests of the Catholic Church are married to women and there is no culture of tolerated child-rape at all.
OTOH, you have to figure that, as a former member of the Hitler Youth, he should know a threat to the future of humanity when he sees it. Either that, or he's just an enormous assclown with zero self-awareness who just unreflectively spews diarrhetic verbiage.
Wow, sir, that second paragraph made my jaw drop. I think in amazement but I cannot be certain.
Sadly, robert has shown himself to be a bigot many times over. It's a shame he can't stick to civil discourse.
I don't hate Catholics -- hell, I married one -- I hate the institution of the Church, which has perverted Jesus' teachings and is one of the most evil influences on the face of the earth today. "Bigotry" implies an irrational or ignorant prejudice against individuals based on some group identity. I have no such prejudices. I despise the *institution* of the Church for well documented reasons, with hypocrisy near the top.
but you can't love Catholics and hate Catholocism; they are intertwined. Who your wife is as a person in values and beliefs, is a direct result of her Catholic beliefs. If she has left the Church, then she really isn't Catholic, is she. Y It is
No... you can hate the institution and not hate the people that are part of it... What you just said is self serving BS.
He can love his wife for who she is... and who she is, is only in PART due to her religious upbringing! In fact you could say her worst attributes are due to religion and the better part of her is the natural goodness that he loves. Your post if ignorant!
If you can love Americans and hate the American government, you can love Catholics and hate the Catholic church.
Here's a thought Benny; maybe if we let teh gays get respectably married, we could socialize those pervs who would otherwise become preists and fuck little boys.
People were making babies loooooong before the damned church stuck it's self righteous nose into the process and"sanctified"everything.
Piss off - or get laid.
Then you're saying male homosexuals are likely pedophiles?
And I don't think that homosexual people were making babies then or now.
Not male homosexuals - priests, Sadsack. And there are plenty of babies in the world, just not enough loving parents.
The point, Sad, is that people have made families all sort of ways before THE CHURCH showed up. "Pride of place" used to go to royalty, who for much of history were the only people getting married - in order to keep track of their property. We sort of got rid of them.
He is correct, the morals of this country are down the pipes. I know that gays just want the benefits, nothing else. It is wrong. I have one gay friend and all he does beyond not work and use welfare to the nines and has AIDS is look for more gay relationships and sex on the web(he has given AIDS to others). He sleeps till 6pm and stays up all night looking for sex and porn live sex sites instead of work or painting as he claims he is an artist-gay art. All he does is post naked men on facebook, most that are not gay. Its a mental illness. The family does make or break a child. You need 2 loving parents who instill good morals and instill a good work ethnic into the individual. One parent doesnt cut it. So I am against divorce also. I am also against priests abusing children or nuns which I know happened around 1900 with my grandmother in the Ukraine--reason why she came to the USA. I am against abortion also.
I am not Catholic, but WICCAN, a moral wiccan but know this man is spiritually correct.
So, the church has to clean up and so do peoples morals.
Pack it in folks, joke posts don't get any better than this. Five stars to this brilliant commenter.
Agreed.
Fuck the pope, Catholics and all religitards. If you want to see the scourge of humanity, there they are.
Ah, the wonderfully tolerant left. Thanks so much for your comment, sitiru. It speaks volumes.
the scourge of the earth is hate, which u sitiru are apparently filled with. i hope that ur life may improve, so that u may see the beauty inherent in all of creation, even in those u disagree with. my prayers.
you know, actually read the speech before launching into the usual anti-Catholic bigotry. He never specifically said that gay marriage "undermines the family and threatens the future of humanity." While there was definitely an unsurprising bias towards straight marriage there, with an implied disapproval of same-sex marriage, it was pretty watered-down.
You also failed to mention the parts of the speech calling for financial reform, stating world leaders need to address climate change and seek sustainable development, and the parts denouncing violence against religious minorities.
The Catholic Church certainly does have an absolutely medieval view of same-sex relationships, but to imply that that was the main focus of his address is sloppy journalism (apparently compounded by using a notoriously half-assed rag like the Daily News as your only source).
Ah, yes, calls for financial reform, from a guy who lives in opulence in the Vatican surrounded by hundreds of millions (if not more) in art, gold and real estate. Finally, someone who relates to the life of the common person even less than Mitt Romney.
Yes, robert, why in God's name does he not provide that "opulence" to the governement to redistribute? It's at the Vatican for the glory of Godf, perhaps? Does he not realize that the sanctimonious among us don't support that? It amazes me that the work of those to create earns them the label of greedy while those who want to confiscate that wealth consider themselves virtuous.
Hypocrisy, thy name is robert.
What in the fuck does the pope "create" with all of that wealth? Even the most staunch capitalist wouldn't say that letting huge piles of wealth just sit around like that is a good thing. It's completely dead wealth; it's not creating shit.
And yeah, I remember all those passages where Jesus described the virtue in surrounding yourself with precious metals and jewels in the name of the lord; hoarding wealth and looking down on charity.
Oh wait.
You truly don't know what the Church does? You need to get in the inner-city and check out the soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless shelters.
Oh, wait. That might get in the way of your stereotype. Anyone who thinks the Church "looks down on charity" is truly out of touch.
For the record, I'm not Catholic but work with the poor. We'd have a huge problem without the support of the Church.
"We'd have a huge problem without the support of the Church." Yeah, so would the pedophile priests they protect. Let's do the balance -- a tiny bit of good at soup kitchens vs. all the monstrous evil the Church promotes as a matter of institutional philosophy. I come down on the side of, "It's an evil institution that does occasional good because not every member is evil like the Pope." Howzat?
I wasn't saying the Church looks down on charity; you did, with that tossed-off line about "confiscated wealth." If inciting the wealthy to cast off their riches to give to the poor isn't charity, what the fuck is?
And I'm not saying the Church gives no money to charity, either; just that your point that its static wealth (in the form of the precious metals and jewels) is "creating" something is horseshit and demonstrates a real lack of understanding of economic realities. From a pure capitalist perspective, it would do the greatest good if it were invested; from a more socialist perspective, it would do the greatest good divvied up amongst the poor. I can't imagine the argument that it does good just sitting there, hoarded up.
Oh, and surrounding yourself with lovely things while people starve is straight up un-Christian as balls.
@dude: "...hoarding wealth and looking down on charity." No further comment needed.
@profrobert: Enough. Priests are no more likely to be pedophiles than, say, extraordinarily liberal paralegals, so let's damn the entire legal profession in perpetuity, shall we?
"Priests are no more likely to be pedophiles than, say, extraordinarily liberal paralegals." I agree completely. The difference is, I'd be willing to bet any law firm would turn in a person it suspected of being a pedophile -- indeed, any decent person or organization would. The Catholic Church, however, doesn't. It moves the pedophiles around, it hides the evidence from the authorities, and it engages in a pervasive cover-up to protect its reputation at the expense of the rape of innocent children. I can't say this too many times -- I have no issue with Catholics, the vast majority of whom I believe to be decent, honest people; I have a HUGE issue with the evil institution that is the Church.
Who the heck writes these things? But- brilliantly written with spot-on analysis.
No one should tell anyone how to live his or her life! Listen Mr Ratzinger: do something good for humanity.
Yeah, the church does a lot of good in starving African nations where they preach abstinence and the withdrawal method, then act all surprised and sad when HIV spreads like wildfire
the bigger heads alway make bad fucking your same sex is not right wen every body start how the kids go come then better stop what they doing because that not right for my kids an your
I really just hate this goddamn son of a bitch for saying things like this. WHEN WILL PEOPLE WAKE THE FUCK UP (figuratively speaking). Jesus christ!
Now you say something