New Pope has encouraged anti-gay discrimination
The Church and in particular Cardinal Ratzinger has encouraged active discrimination against gay people and labelled gay people as 'evil.'
This extreme discrimination and prejudice is unacceptable in a society that values and protects human rights.
Why should we continue to tolerate such bigotry?
Lest we forget, in 1986 Cardinal Ratzinger issued a 'Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.' Ratzinger wrote that a homosexual orientation, even if the person is totally celibate, is a "tendency" toward an "intrinsic moral evil."
Moreover, a homosexual inclination is both an "objective disorder" and a "moral disorder," which is "contrary to the creative wisdom of God. Special concern and pastoral attention should be directed towards those who have this condition lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not."
Ratzinger's 1986 letter concludes that pastoral care for homosexual persons should include "the assistance of the psychological, sociological and medical sciences," and that "all support should be withdrawn from any organisations which seek to undermine the teachings of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which ignore it entirely." Then, in 1992, the Vatican issued a further proclamation authorised by Cardinal Ratzinger and by Pope John Paul II, entitled 'Some Considerations Concerning the Catholic Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons.'
This document was designed to mobilise Catholic opinion against equal rights legislation for lesbians and gay men.
It describes homosexuality as an "objective disorder" and a "tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil."
Rejecting the concept of homosexual "human rights," it asserts there is "no right" to homosexuality, adding that the civil liberties of gay people can be "legitimately limited for objectively disordered external conduct."
While condemning "unjust" discrimination, the Vatican document says that some forms of anti-gay discrimination are "not unjust" and may even be "obligatory" especially with regard to "the consignment of children to adoption or foster care, in employment of teachers or coaches, and in military recruitment." Most shocking of all, the 1992 document suggests that when gay people demand civil rights, "neither the Church nor society should be surprised when... irrational and violent reactions increase."
The implication is that by asking for human rights, gay people encourage homophobic prejudice and violence: gay people bring hatred upon ourselves, and are responsible for our own suffering. The Catholic Church, it seems, blames the victims of homophobia, not the perpetrators.
The Catholic Church requires all Catholics to learn and follow the teachings of a Catechism which, whatever its intention, gives support to bigots everywhere.
It would seem that this new Pope, from his past beliefs, will continue to alienate and discriminate against sectors of our society.
This behaviour should not be tolerated by a progressive, humanitarian nation. It is incumbent on us all to ensure that it is not.
Dr John Goode
Mill Cove House
Castletownbere
Co Cork
