Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
He explained that defending God's creation is not limited to saving the environment, but also protecting man from self-destruction.
The pope was delivering his end-of-year address to senior Vatican staff.
His words, later released to the media, emphasised his total rejection of gender theory.
Pope Benedict XVI warned that gender theory blurs the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.
Gender theory
Gender theory explores sexual orientation, the roles assigned by society to individuals according to their gender, and how people perceive their biological identity.
 |  If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind... deserves it no less  Pope Benedict XVI |
Gay and transsexual groups, particularly in the United States, promote it as a key to understanding and tolerance, but the pope disagreed.
When the Roman Catholic Church defends God's Creation, "it does not only defend the earth, water and the air... but (it) also protects man from his own destruction," the pope said.
"If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind... deserves it no less," the 81-year-old pontiff said, calling for "an ecology of the human being."
It is not "outmoded metaphysics" to urge respect for the "nature of the human being as man and woman," he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's sumptuous Clementine Hall.
The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage. It teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are.
'Rock festival'
The pope uses his traditional end-of-year speech to offer his Christmas greetings and say a few words about what he considers the important issues of the day.
This year, Pope Benedict also deplored the tendency to depict the Catholic church's World Youth Day, which he attended in Sydney earlier this year, as mere spectacle.
He stressed that the event should not be considered a "variant of modern youth culture, as a kind of ecclesiastical rock festival with the Pope as the star," but as the fruition of a "long exterior and interior path".from BBC.co.uk/news
Every time I think the Church is becoming a bit progressive it goes and says/does something retarded. Gender theory will ruin humanity? What the fuck? I mean, I don't buy a lot of gender theory--I believe in parts of it--, but even if people's sexuality is determined by social construction, why does that lead to the downfall of humanity? I don't get it. I especially don't get how the "gay threat" is more dangerous than rain forest destruction. Ugh....
2 comments:
At what point did you think the church was becoming more progressive? :P
As our esteemed Dr. Scarcella once put it, the Church is generally at least 200 years behind the rest of society when it comes to scientific and social progress (and this is coming from a man who is an ordained priest).
Personally, I think we still have a generation or two to go before homosexuality is "accepted" at face value by the majority (if ever, really). THEN we can start the stop watch for the Church. :P Hell, Evolution is still in the queue... And how long ago was it that the church finally recognized that maybe, just maybe, Galileo was on to something?
Well, I guess I never really thought the church was becoming progressive in an absolute sense...more that relative to its past perspectives it was opening up just a bit. A small bit. And compared to a lot of evangelical faiths it has in a some ways. It has embraced social justice issues, development in the LDCs, and begun a campaign to end global poverty. It has also been surprisingly active in promoting environmental causes (i.e., it is Christian duty to protect God's gift, even if that means reigning in business). Lastly, it has budged a bit on evolution. While official church doctrine is, of course, still that God created the Heavens and Earth, it has tempered its resistance to evolution by suggesting that the two are not mutually exclusive. For some people, I guess this means crap-ass intelligent design. But for a lot of Catholics I know it meant that their faith and their intellect/rationale didn't need to conflict quite so much (although most of my Catholic friends never paid too much attention to Church doctrine anyway).
Anyway, I agree with you. But I like to think that the Church is sometimes progressing. But then dumb shit like this happens.
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