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| Pope Benedict XVI’s strong stance against homosexuality makes him a dangerous threat to gay causes across the world, gay activists and religious experts said. (Photo by AP) |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: DYANA BAGBY COMMENTS
 
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Presiding over what some describe as the “strongest bully pulpit in the world,” Pope Benedict XVI, just eight months into his tenure, has unilaterally targeted gay men and lesbians as moral threats to society.
From banning gay priests to publicly lobbying against same-sex marriage rights in Spain and Italy, Pope Benedict XVI appears to be taking a swift approach to excluding gay people from equal rights across the globe.
“His rhetoric is obscene. He wants gays clearly taken care of — it’s almost like the Final Solution,” said Kara Speltz, a Catholic lesbian activist for Soulforce, an organization dedicated to ending anti-gay discrimination within all religions.
For 20 years, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger served under Pope John Paul II before being elected the 265th pope on April 19.
During that tenure, Ratzinger authored some of the Vatican’s most anti-gay rhetoric, including a 1986 Vatican letter calling homosexuality “an intrinsic moral evil” and a 2003 battle plan instructing Catholic politicians to oppose gay marriage and gay adoptions.
Dubbed “God’s rottweiler” and “the enforcer” long before taking the helm of the church that boasts a billion members worldwide, Benedict’s fervent approach to gay and other social issues is an intentional one meant to influence public policy, according to Chester Gillis, chair of the theology department at Georgetown University.
“He knows very well the kind of claims he makes have political implications — he intends for them to have political implications,” Gillis said. “He wants to influence public policy in numerous places in the world and hopefully sway the powers that be to his side, especially on so-called social issues.”
Under John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the office once known as the Holy Inquisition. In that role, his writings were mostly circumscribed to Catholics and internal discourse within the church, Gillis said.
But now as pope, his words aren’t just read by bishops but are heard throughout the world, giving Benedict enormous credibility when it comes to political influence, Gillis said.
“It’s the strongest bully pulpit in the world,” Gillis said. “What he says is noted by everyone. Everyone may not agree or follow what he says, but clearly he has the ear of the world — and that’s a very privileged position.”
Benedict’s most recent anti-gay action to gain worldwide attention was the Vatican’s “Instruction concerning the criteria for the discernment of vocations with regard to persons with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to the seminary and to Holy Orders,” released Nov. 29. The document essentially bans gay priests.
The official “Instruction,” from the Congregation for Catholic Education, stated, “One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply-rooted homosexual tendencies.”
The "Instruction" also said men "who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture' cannot be admitted to seminaries.” The only exception would be for those with a "transitory problem" that had been overcome for at least three years.”
In the United States, gay rights groups including the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force publicly challenged the ban and urged gay Catholics and their allies to speak out against it to local priests and bishops.
On Dec. 14, a group of gay Italian clergy posted an open letter to the Vatican on the website of the Italian news agency Adista, stating they felt like the Catholic Church’s “unloved and unwanted children,” the Associated Press reported.
Adista, which leaked the document on the gay priest ban last month, said 39 priests, 26 diocesans and 13 more members of various religious orders had signed the letter. But the text reproduced on the website did not include the signatures or list their names, the AP reported.
“Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”
“Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” (October 1986)
“Homosexual activity is not a complementary union, able to transmit life; and so it thwarts the call to a life of that form of self-giving which the Gospel says is the essence of Christian living. This does not mean ...
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