Is the Pope and Iris singing from the same hymn sheet

[Belfast-citizen]

Gay groups and activists have reacted angrily after Pope Benedict XVI said that mankind needed to be saved from a destructive blurring of gender.

Speaking on Monday, Pope Benedict said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was as important as protecting the environment.

Pope Benedict made the comments in an end-of-year speech to senior Vatican staff.

Defending God's creation was not limited to saving the environment, he said, but also about protecting man from himself.

It was not "out-of-date metaphysics" to "speak of human nature as 'man' or woman'", he said. It came from the "language of creation, despising which would mean self-destruction for humans".

Gender theories, he said, led to man's "auto-emancipation" from creation and Creator.

"Rain forests deserve, yes, our protection but the human being... does not deserve it less," he said.

LGCM head Rev Sharon Ferguson said the Pope's remarks justified "gay bashing" and bullying.




So is the Pope and Iris singing from the same hymn sheet ?

[clearview]

Yes, I keenly await the tidal wave of condemnations from those on here who have been so vocal in ridiculing similar views expressed by certain DUP members.

[Big Bobo]

The catholic bureaucracy has always been full with backward reactionaries and bigots.

[Oppenheimer]

too funny.... POPE CALLS FOR CAP ON GAY EMISSIONS - The Daily Mash

[corelli]

Gay groups and activists have reacted angrily after Pope Benedict XVI said that mankind needed to be saved from a destructive blurring of gender.

Speaking on Monday, Pope Benedict said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was as important as protecting the environment.

Pope Benedict made the comments in an end-of-year speech to senior Vatican staff.

Defending God's creation was not limited to saving the environment, he said, but also about protecting man from himself.

It was not "out-of-date metaphysics" to "speak of human nature as 'man' or woman'", he said. It came from the "language of creation, despising which would mean self-destruction for humans".

Gender theories, he said, led to man's "auto-emancipation" from creation and Creator.

"Rain forests deserve, yes, our protection but the human being... does not deserve it less," he said.

LGCM head Rev Sharon Ferguson said the Pope's remarks justified "gay bashing" and bullying.




So is the Pope and Iris singing from the same hymn sheet ?

Honestly, when I read of these kind of statements I really do, in my own small way, think of what "Jesus" would have said in terms of his new testament behaviour.

In this season, which Christians celebrate as his birth day, is it logical that Jesus, speaking through the Pope, would really condemn transexual people, gay people as disordered and varying other condemnations in relation to people they obviously do not understand. Is it not more likely that he would speak of love, tolerance and understanding?

This Pontiff is no John XXIII.

[Robo]

Was this pope not a member of the Hitler Youth?

Was Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) A Nazi? Pope Benedict XVI Joined the Hitler Youth

[clearview]

I'm afraid so...

[The OD]

Yes, I keenly await the tidal wave of condemnations from those on here who have been so vocal in ridiculing similar views expressed by certain DUP members.

I wouldnt be so quick to condemn either of them - when you base your life on unfounded mysticism, remove any shred of compassion and spirituality from the mysticism all you are left with is a need to cling to tired mantras and attack marginalised groups.

From my reading and understanding of the core concept of Christianity, neither Iris Robinson nor the Pope have much understanding of the figure of Jesus Christ, nor, might I add, would they welcome by him whilst continuing to use their faith for their own personal hobbyhorses.

[toxic avenger]

Yaaaawn... All the kneejerk trendy liberals (plus one troll posing as an Orange bigot), always ready to pounce, at it again, I see... Perhaps read the speech, this time?

This, from Andrew Brown, in the Guardian (of all places):

To judge from some of the headlines, you would have thought he claimed that extirpating homosexuality was as urgent as protecting the rainforest. His actual words were much more rambling and even progressive: that "[the earth] is not simply our property to be exploited according to our interests and desires" and the same is true of our gendered nature. This is why he attacked "gender studies" in particular, because they seem to make human sexuality something infinitely malleable and subject to our will.
He sees human nature, and the nature all around us both as gifts of God, with their own intrinsic values independent of our purposes. Self-fulfilment, in this view, is not doing what we want, but what God – or our true nature – wants. The real target of his attack is not the condition of homosexuality, but the more general attitude which says that sex is solely a matter of pleasure between autonomous individuals.
You may disagree with him. But given the consistent Catholic view that a stable, heterosexual family is the foundation of society and the place where all morals and virtues are best nurtured, his remarks are not egregious bigotry. Without – he would argue – families in which children may grow up with a sense of responsibility for others, and for the earth, there will be no effective action to save the planet.
The Catholic church is a conservative organisation. It believes that homosexuality is unnatural in the sense that it is not what God had in mind. That isn't going to change in a hurry. But it is not homophobic in the way that evangelical protestantism can be. I really don't think that its official line on gays suggests that they are greater sinners, or a greater threat to marriage, than adulterers. The defence of the family is not always in Roman Catholic usage a code for scapegoating gay people.

Andrew Brown on the pope's view of homosexuality | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

[Factorem]

What exactly did the Pope say to cause such "controversy" amongst the homosex people?