Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself. [The family] is threatened in many places by a faulty conception of human nature that is proven to be defective. Defending life and the family in society isn’t retrograde, rather it’s prophetic. The Church must promote those values that permit the full development of the human person.”Pope Benedict XVI addressing French bishops at the Vatican. France’s new President, Francois Hollande, and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault both support a same-sex marriage bill coming before the legislature in October.
bystander
How anyone could listen to this evil piece of shit is beyond me.
avesraggiana
What is “defective and threatens humanity” is celibacy, and the denial of an experience that is essential to living a complete and totally human life of a true human being. Really, this grotty old man needs to be chained to a post, guarded by four rottweilers, and locked in a padded cel with the key thrown away…
avesraggiana
@bystander: Amen.
Dumdum
This coming from the head of an organization that defends pedophiles disguised as priests. Promoting an archaic religion that historically has been responsible for the genocide of native peoples,Antisemitism and the brutal horrific torture of pagans,Muslims,women and anyone else that might disagree with their dogmatic patriarchal crap.I refer to of course the inquisition.
Red Meat
Someone throw feces at this Nazi in a dress.
PopishPrick
Oh good Lord I pray that this old prick will just die off very soon.
Aidan8
@Red Meat: LOL “Nazi in a dress” LOL
PARKAVMAN
Why would you expect anything else? The church will end before it will change it’s stance on gays.
gaym50ish
Can you believe this idiot is saying his church “must promote those values that permit the full development of the human person”?
Isn’t this the same church that won’t let women lead, that condemns birth control, that expects dysfunctional couples to remain married for life, that thinks gays are “intrinsically evil,” that requires its leaders to be celibate, that shields abusive priests and makes 13-year-olds confess that they masturbate?
Is that how his church promotes the full development of the human person? And, by the way, are there any “persons” who are NOT human?
randalaw
Hmmmmmm, let’s look at this. Since the Roman Catholic Church has been brought to court in virtually every country on the planet to be sued for the damages inflicted at their hands upon children around the world, and married same-sex couples have not faced such trials, maybe the world perceives the RCC as the greater threat to society.
Yes, I fully understand that the number of priests who engaged in such activity is a small percentage of the whole group, but they were aided and abetted by the hierarchy of the RCC through cover-ups which allowed (and actually even encouraged) the abuses to continue.
Ronbo
The pope is currently the actual face of evil. I suspect that he was involved in the buggering of children throughout his sorted career.
BayAreaHomo
This man was a proud member of the Hitler Youth and fought tirelessly as an anti-air gunner for Hitler’s regime. He raised the banner of the swastika high and marched under it as a vanguard of the Third Reich. The only evil he can speak of is the evil he hs chosen to spread both as a youth and an old man.
niles
The Catholic Church has never been held accountable for the centuries of crimes against humanity that it perpetrated in the New World. It was able to abuse and slaughter the native peoples by filling their minds with tales of miracles and appearances of “virgins”. Jump to World War II, when the Catholics Church supported the Nazi regime, looked the other way when millions of Jews were being slaughtered, and even conspired to whisk Nazi war criminals away to safety after the war. Now, this diseased and senile old pervert has the audacity to try and assert his moral authority? First of all, he and the rest of his ilk, should be brought up on charges in an international court of law to answer for the years and years of child abuse and the shameful coverups that extended to the very highest echelons of the Vatican.
Jonathonz
Oh shuttup you old fossil.
Evji108
This pope is well-known by the insiders in the Church to be closeted queen. In deep denial and intense self-loathing he lashes out at the gay community to hide and assuage his own guilt and sexual repression. Pity the poor man. He is a twisted and toxic bag of self-torture. Come to think of it, it reminds me of Rick Santorum, except that Rick isn’t so prissy.
Evji108
This is so informative, quoted from a review of the book called “The Pope is Not Gay” by
Angelo Quattrochi. Definite worth a few minutes to read if you want to try to understand this repressed homosexual pope.
http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2010/08/the-pope-is-not-gay/183564/
MartinDK
@BayAreaHomo: And you of course would have resisted the nazis publicly 16 years old without any support and facing torture and death while the cities of your contry was being fire-bombed from the air?
Nothing is more sad than people condemning the actions of others from the comfort of the armchair
MartinDK
The pope is wrong about homosexuality but right about children needing both mother and father.
I find people who would abuse extremely poor women in developing countries as surrogate mothers to be even more evil. It is emotional rape to let them go through pregnancy with all the feelings it produces only to rob them of the baby. That is true evil. Abusing others for your own benefit even if you do throw them some dollars. Its not charity. Charity is when you give without receiving.
Before we as gay people begin a debate on the moral aspects of getting children and all the different implications you are quite simply in no position to be critical…
MartinDK
Its all very well to want gay people to have children, the devil always lies in the detail.
Who gets custody in case of a break-up or divorce? Only the biological father or both? Fighting over custody is very common in the hetero world. No need to assume gays are better. Where should that child live if the two fathers cant agree? Can the biological father lose the right to his child, or does that just always happen to the non-biological parent?
What happens in the event of death of a single parent (when people like Ricky Martin have a motherless child)? Then that child is orphaned. Parents do die, and having two makes it much more likely that at least one can foster the child.
Getting a child always was the easy part…
gaym50ish
Why is it any different from ANY couple with adopted children, stepchildren, foster children, children born out of wedlock or children born with a surrogate? These are issues for the family courts to sort out, and I don’t see them having a particularly tough time just because the parents are gay.
And single gay parents like Ricky Martin are a tiny fraction of all the single parents in the world, so that’s not a unique situation either. We can wish that all kids had two parents, but that’s not going to happen. The quality of the parenting makes all the difference.
Some of the issues with gay parenting make very good arguments for same-sex marriage and for repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. All kids need the protections that come with having married parents — not just under state law but federal protections that are denied because of DOMA.
lola66
comming from a religion priests that raped little innocent little boys that damaged so many lives !
MartinDK
@gaym50ish: It is different because with gay couples you have an asymmetrical situation by necessity of one parent being biological and one not biological, which is not the case in any other situation. How does one resolve custody in this situation?
If the non-biological parent always loses out then that is something to be considered before assuming this role and investing your feelings. You will then always be a second class parent without rights.
If the biological parent can lose custody then you have the absurd situation of having your baby stolen by a stranger. Not many would feel that this was fair.
Ricky Martin created a motherless child, that is not the same as “We can wish that all kids had two parents”. Most single parents are not really “single” they are just divorced. There is still another parent around. Most of the rest have experienced death of a partner as I said. In this situation it is good the children have two parents, or?
Besides who is thinking about the surrogate mother? You shout about the 1% and the bad republicans who only care about the rich? Well, you dont care about the poor, when they have no name and live in India!
I can understand how you would like someone else (family courts) to sort out the mess, so you can get on with shouting one-liners and denouncing the pope. Its a lot more fun and comes without effort…
Atomicrob
What is defective is an attitude of archaic intractability that refuses to allow a progression toward equitable civil rights for a significant population on this planet.
marc sfe
@MartinDK: Well, what about all the youth who worked in the resistance movement? Sorry, that’s a fail on your part.
marc sfe
@MartinDK: This is not about divorce, this is about legally recognised marriage. Of course there may be issues if there are children, but please stay on topic and let’s get over one hurdle first. Damn, who peed in your cheerios?????
niles
@MartinDK et al. I see the trolls have followed us into the new commenting system. BTW: go to hell all stinking trolls!
Chris-MI
All the asymmetry problems mentions have happened thousands of times already in heterosexual marriages and non-married couples. There are single parents, adoptive parents, couples that use a surrogate or sperm donor or just have sex with a third party. Everyone of these issues has been worked out in the courts many times.
Keep in mind that the pope opposes surrogate parents and sperm donors and IV fertilization and unmarried sex as well. He doesn’t live in the real world–these problems have not ended straight marriage. And many Catholics who have no problem wearing their rubbers have an issue or two with priests raping kids.
alexoloughlin
What exactly would he know about humanity since he has none? Catholic clergy making moral pronouncements about human relationships, oh please. As far as I’m concerned, the roman cult is morally bankrupt and should be ignored given it’s long tradition of pedophilia, ephebophilia, pederasty and misogyny. For a cult to have lied about, covered up the rape of underage children, boys and girls alike, is arguably one of the worst abominations of all. The rottweiler in the Vatican should be arrested and charged for crimes against humanity along with all of the complicit clergy, assets confiscated, sold and the proceeds given to the poor in the true christian spirit of which they have none.
hephaestion
There’s only been one Pope who ever lived up to Jesus’ words and that was John Paul I. And naturally the Vatican’s closet case thugs had him killed within a few months of becoming Pope.
So why should we expect Pope Maledict (as Frank Kameny famously referred to Benedict) to be anything but yet another anti-Christ in the Vatican?
Dumdum
There are many unwanted children who need loving homes.Anyone with half a brain(and according to Ms.MartinDK it is questionable as to whether or not I even have that much)can see that the world is over populated as it is,the human need to sow ones seed as it were is basic and primal.But should we not endeavor to care for those children already here? And as long as that child has a loving nurturing home the gender or sexual orientation of said parents should never be an issue. Adaptation is an intrinsic human trait, no situation can ever be ideal unless you consider the affluent one percent that idea. Which I do not. Personally I think that a little adversity can build strength of character.However I really don’t think that I would want Sir Elton John as a parent.Marriage equality is key.Bringing children into the equation is a serious decision.Hell it took us five years to decide to get another dog after the old one died.But it was the right thing to do,we did not enter into the decision lightly and Oliver is loved and well cared for, in fact he is curled up on my feet right now.I only make the point because being responsible for another living creature is a big deal.An animal cannot compare with a little human being of course.But case in point.The two men in Arizona.12 adopted children all clean healthy happy and well cared for children.I rest my case.Equality is the issue.If I want to marry my lover of 23 years I should have that right. No debate.From my perspective if you are with the right person you know it.We fit together like two parts of a whole.And though it may be rare we are monogamous.There is a legal aspect to our union.For instance if he died I have no doubt that his family would swoop in and try to manage things.Then there is the issue of hospitalization and visitation.But I digress.I apologize but Ms.Martin you are a tool.
MartinDK
@niles: so anyone not sharing your opinion or popular opinion is a troll?? what happened to free speech? I guess you would burn the people whose opinions you dont like on the stake?
MartinDK
@marc sfe: No, but you can truly say that you would always take the right decision no matter the circumstances, while sitting in your comfy chair? You only know that when you are in the situation, and 99% of the vocal people like you shit themselves in that situation
the other Greg
Plenty of heterosexual fathers (and even mothers) beat and abuse their kids. This cult-talk of “family” is mostly a lot of nonsense.
Plenty of kids born to heterosexuals are abandoned and need homes.
I do the math, and wonder about the church’s obsession with this.
The French, well they set an example back in 1791-1794 when they went around killing every Catholic priest they saw. Not that we should go back to that. 🙂
the other Greg
@MartinDK: To be fair, yes it’s true, every teenager in Benedict’s position was REQUIRED to be a member of the Hitler Youth. It wasn’t an option, and he wasn’t really old enough to be a resistance fighter yet, even if someone had presented that as an option. And if he’d been a little older he would have just been drafted into the army (which wouldn’t make him a Nazi party member either, that was MUCH different). Some people seem to get a little confused with the history and think Nazi Germany was all kind of like the ’60s Vietnam draft where they could just go to San Francisco or Canada and smoke pot and avoid the whole thing.
So yeah, whatever his bad actions later as an adult, that’s an unfair criticism.
Dumdum
One could easily imagine that mother nature is trying slow down the growth of human population by birthing more Gay people? Seems like us Queers are just everywhere these days.
Dumdum
@MartinDK: Sorry I called you a tool bro.
MartinDK
@Dumdum: actually i think you and i have a common interest in cultures and myths so we should fight =)
MartinDK
@Dumdum: *we should NOT fight* =/
MartinDK
@the other Greg: Thx
Ogre Magi
I am soooooo sick of christians
Scooteroo
If a genie or a fairy godmother came and said, “you have a choice. You can choose to live in a world where al Qaeda exists and no Catholic church, or a world where the catholic church exists, and no al Qaeda”- I would choose to live in a world with al qaeda a hundred times over. There is no larger, organized terrorist organization in the world than the Catholic church. They have harmed and killed millions upon millions over the centuries of their existence. The pope should be treated as a criminal, not a head of state. He is evil incarnate, and the church is the very “Satan” they claim to fight. It is time for those who follow this organization out of tradition to stop. They do not exist without you. The church is scared because they see the numbers, and they know that their years are numbered. Their only hope is to become more extreme and cater to that extremist base, like al Qaeda does. Fuck the Catholic church, and may the pope burn in the hell he likely doesn’t even beleive in.
Dumdum
@MartinDK: Actually I do have a couple of stories that you may find interesting if not entertaining.When I was in Africa I had the honor of meeting Audrey Hepburn.I don’t if I am allowed to do this.But I couldn’t find anything prohibiting it.If you want to open a dialogue. [email protected]
BayAreaHomo
“you of course would have resisted the nazis publicly 16 years old without any support and facing torture and death”
As a queer Jew, I would have been gassed twice.
But if I was a German gentile, perhaps I would have kept my head down. Hard to say.
Then again, I’m not claiming to be an infallible, divinely selected representative of God on earth, whose every word is directly originating from God.
I would think that someone who claims to be “the essence of the divine on earth” would have no problem happily and bravely resisting the Nazi regime, including torture and death, with the promise of an eternity in heaven as a reward, no?
This is what annoys me about religious mumbo-jumbo. All of the apologists for it demand that we “respect” their beliefs, when it’s clear they don’t even believe in them themselves. Someone who fought under the banner of Nazism and says he “had to under threat of torture” has no business claiming “divinity and perfection under God” later.
BayAreaHomo
Incidentally, Sophie Scholl and lots of other German teens did speak out against the Nazi regime, often at their peril. The “Pope” chose to don the swastika and goose-step to save his own skin, invalidating any “moral position” he takes for all time as complete nonsense.
JOHN 1957
Well ….. Well …. Well. The president of the “Universal Pedophile Club” has the nerve to throw stones from his glass house. This is why I’ve come to the rude awakening that all organized religions were created by man to dominate man and keep him in fear and submissive why they get away with murder, literally. They may have religion but are starving to death when it comes to spirituality and loving our fellow men/women. He should be more concerned about the human slave trade that’s going on in the world right now and all the hungry little children that are dying instead of being obsessed with people who love each other and want to commit their love in the eyes of the so called creator. Which brings me to a totally honest question; What kind of God lets little children get raped and murdered! every time I see that kind of story on the news I can’t help but cry. Who died and left these so called pious religious fanatics God? His church is not the house of God, but the house of the devil whom is his lord and master and that is why after all these centuries it’s finally coming down stone by stone. Time to pay their Karma.
BayAreaHomo
You obviously didn’t get the memo, John. Pointing out the institution’s roots in Nazism and child rape is impolite and should be banned from discussions. Their accusation that gay people “destroy society,” however, is a “legitimate alternative point of view.”
the other Greg
@BayAreaHomo: Scholl wasn’t a “teen”; I knew who you meant from the film “The White Rose” (highly recommended to anyone who hasn’t seen it), but when I look up her chronology, she started her illegal political activism in college at age 21. And it’s quite an understatement to say that she and her friends were in “peril,” since they were all executed the next year when she was 22. If anyone here is sure they could have done THAT in high school, with or without any example to follow, you’re pretty sure of yourself! Again I’m not defending the adult Benedict since there are innumerable adult actions to blast him for, blast away.
horace
Not real crazy about man. Even less crazy about religion.
So nature is letting same sex marriages start a badly needed de-populuation trend.
Go figure.
mlbumiller
the Pope need to stay the hell out our politics and get to cleaning house of his sexually abusing priests.