After the Pope called marriage-equality efforts around the world a threat to the human race, Hollandâs foreign affairs minister slammed the Pontiff for not respecting individual rights.
Frans Timmermans dinged Benedict XVI for his verbal diarrhea: âIf every person is uniqueâas the Popeâs representative said in Dublin last weekâthen why should that unique person not have the right to stand up for their own sexual orientation?â he said to RTL Nederland âWhy can Romeo marry Juliet but not Julius? [Accepting] marriage between two people of the same sex is having respect for the uniqueness of the individual.â
The Popeâs comments came just a week after his controversial World Day of Peace message stating that gay marriage was the downfall of society and an editorial by the Vaticanâs semi-official newspaper claimed the fight for marriage equality was the pursuit of an âunattainable utopia.â
Reaction against the Vaticanâs homophobic remarks has been fierce in the Netherlands, the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage: According to Gay Star News, advocacy groups are asking Timmermans to petition the UN to drop the Vaticanâs special status within the august body. And the Dutch Facebook group âNo Flowers for The Popeâ is petitioning the government to stop sending flowers to Rome for Easter, as it does every year.
Source: Gay Star News
Sean305
First of all, no religious leader should be allowed to make any statement concerning the politics of a secular state outside of a private setting.
Secondly, why do so many people follow a non-democratic organization 1) the leadership of which has been asssociated with enormous historical injustices, 2) has no elected representation of its members, 3) has no legal basis in its current form. Are we not in the 21st Century? Why are giving this undemocratic institution any more attention than Kim Il Sung?
I share Cher’s and Piers Morgan’s opinion as to the reasons – “People are just plain stupid.”
dukeofhurl
If the catholic church gives in to gay marriage then they will lose all of their priests. They have to condemn it. Holy see?
Jack E. Jett
He looks like a more fem version of Bea Arthur.
2eo
@Sean305: The answer is very simple.
Because a lot of white people are catholics.
Which for some reason lends it credibility beyond it’s worth in the mindset of our dumbind down populace, it’s of no more worth to me than the spaghetti monster or the space teapot or a mosque or synagogue.