Vatican spokesman Fr. Fredirico Lombardi signals his wish for a certain Vatican CardinalI am almost speechless with this one. The first article is taken from IslamOnline, which goes to show how quickly the internet can spread lies and distortions. The second article is from CNA and it's mission is to cloud the truth in the original article which was printed in Pontifex News. That article was given a much greater world wide circulation by London's Telegraph.co.uk
The crux of all this is the Vatican is in spin mode again. No wonder the Vatican has problems with the internet. Their own spokes persons are being exposed as people who are not on the same page--not even in the same catechism for the matter.
Gays Won't Go to Heaven: Cardinal
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers 12/03/09
"Homosexuality is therefore a sin, but this does not justify any form of discrimination," said Cardinal Barragan.
CAIRO – Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who this year retired as the Vatican's chief spokesman on health care issues, asserted that homosexuals and transsexuals would never go to heaven, the Telegraph reported on Thursday, December 3.
"Transsexuals and homosexuals will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven," Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, 76, said in an interview with the aptly named magazine Pontifex.
"One is not born a homosexual. One becomes a homosexual," stressed the former head of the Vatican’s Council for Health Pastoral Care.
"One is not born a homosexual. One becomes a homosexual," stressed the former head of the Vatican’s Council for Health Pastoral Care.
"It is for various reasons, such as education, or for not developing one's own proper identity in adolescence; perhaps they are themselves not responsible, but acting against the dignity of the human body, certainly they will not enter Heaven," he added.
"All that goes against nature and against the dignity of the human body offends God."
Cardinal Barragan insisted this was not his personal opinion or interpretation.
"It’s not me who says so; it’s St. Paul," he contended, citing passages from St. Paul's letter to the Romans.
Cardinal Barragan insisted this was not his personal opinion or interpretation.
"It’s not me who says so; it’s St. Paul," he contended, citing passages from St. Paul's letter to the Romans.
"Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another," St. Paul writes in the Apostle.
"Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity."
"Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity."
No Discrimination
Cardinal Barragan underlined, meanwhile, that homosexuals and transsexuals must not be discriminated against for this.
"Homosexuality is therefore a sin, but this does not justify any form of discrimination," he said.
"God alone has the right to judge.
"God alone has the right to judge.
"We on earth cannot condemn, and as human beings we all have the same rights."
The Vatican distanced itself from the comments in a statement that was highly unusual because it indirectly criticized a top Church official.
The Vatican distanced itself from the comments in a statement that was highly unusual because it indirectly criticized a top Church official.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Pontifex should not be considered an authority on Catholic thinking "on complex and delicate issues such as homosexuality."
"The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition," said Lombardi.
"They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."
The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin, but considers homosexual intercourse as sinful.
In 2008, Pope Benedict XVI called for defending humanity against the threat posed by homosexual behaviors, warning homosexual acts could lead to the self-destruction of the human race.
Same-sex relationship and marriage are totally prohibited in Islam as well as in all divine religions.
Islam teaches that believers should neither do the obscene acts, nor in any way indulge in their propagation. (So the Islamic take is to ignore the Vatican spokesman Fr. Lombardi in favor of their interpretation of Benedict's remarks from last December. Remarks which Fr. Lombardi also had to reinterpret.)
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The following is the US's own version of Pontifex (Catholic News Agency) trying to clean up this seeming conflict between Cardinal Barragan and the Vatican press office. This apparently is not the first time that CNA has had to clean up after Pontifex.
'Homosexuals will not get into Heaven' is not the Catholic teaching, Vatican spokesman clarifies
Rome, Italy, Dec 2, 2009 / 07:42 pm (CNA).-
Rome, Italy, Dec 2, 2009 / 07:42 pm (CNA).-
Following the release of comments attributed to Mexican Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, according to which allegedly he said that homosexuals will not go to Heaven, Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., explained that such statement is not the official teaching of the Catholic Church. (In this article Barragan's statement is only 'allegedly made'. I bet Tiger Woods wishes he only 'allegedly sent' certain text messages.)
Cardinal Lozano Barragan, former President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers, who is now retired but lives in Rome, was quoted by the Italian news website "Pontifex News" saying “trans(sexuals) and homosexuals will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven, and it’s not me who says it, but Saint Paul.” (I'm sure St Paul was imminently familiar with trans sexuals.)
Responding to a follow-up question from Italian religious journalist Bruno Volpe, the Cardinal allegedly added that those who feel homosexual impulses “perhaps aren't guilty, but by acting against the dignity of the body they will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (CNA is only using alleged quotation marks for the alleged quote of Cardinal Barragan.)
Pressed for comment, Fr. Federico Lombardi said that Pontifex News “should not be considered an authority on Catholic thinking,” especially “on complex and delicate issues such as homosexuality.”
Pontifex News has previously been involved in controversies regarding the accuracy of their quotes. Last year, Cardinal Juan Sandoval of Guadalajara, Mexico, strongly denied a quote attributed by Pontifex to him, in which he allegedly said that a former Mexican president was responsible for the murder of his predecessor, Cardinal Juan Posadas.
Despite repeated complaints, Pontifex never posted a correction, so Cardinal Sandoval requested that other Catholic media –including CNA- set the record straight.
Fr. Lombardi also quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2358, which says that “the number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.” (CNA in their zeal to set this record straight neglected to mention the Fr. Lombardi is quoting from the outdated Catechism. The new one says; "This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial." In the new catechism, homosexuality is a choice.)
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It seems there's just a little confusion out there in Vatican land about homosexuality. Even the most traditional, obedient, and faith filled of Catholic publications can't agree. The Islamic world has no such problem and have clarified for all of us that gay relationships are prohibited in all divine religions. Which I guess means religions which do allow gay relationships are not divine. Amazing that in the 21st century we've finally got this divine true religion thing down to one issue: if you prohibit gay relationships your religion is divine. All righty then, it's good to know it really doesn't have anything to do with Jesus or Mohamed or even Buddha. Divinity is yours if you prohibit gay relationships. I was so on the wrong track. I thought it had something to do with Jesus and love and compassion. This anti gay thing is much easier.
Looks like the new ecumenism can be found in prohibiting, criminalizing, and executing gays for gay behavior. The new ecumenical difficulties lie in deciding if the gay 'tendency' is innate or self chosen. I'm sure it won't take them long to come to the conclusion it doesn't matter, innate or not acting on it is self chosen. I wonder why this same reasoning doesn't apply to heterosexuals with the same vehemence and condemnation it does for gays.
It must be that with heterosexuals that the innateness is related to the degree of inability to control oneself. This must be especially true for heterosexual males, since part of the mandated complementarity role of women is to dress as asexual as possible in order to bolster a man with his innate inability to control himself. If she can't accomplish this bolstering, it's her fault. God condemn her to hell if she dresses provocatively or in any way triggers this heterosexual male inability to control himself. In some societies this is still a stoning offense--for her anyway. The poor man has just succumbed to his innate disorder. Kind of like an alcoholic succombing to his addiction. Maybe it would be better for alcoholics if whiskey bottles were packaged like milk cartons.
Actually, now that I think about it, most of our traditional morality is aimed at controlling this innate inability of heterosexual men to control themselves because almost all of the time the fault lies with women and men are their victims. That goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.
Maybe that's why Cardinal Barragan has to send all gays to hell because there is no real way to tell which partner is the woman he can blame--except in the case of trans sexuals.
In my skewed point of view, it seems that what makes a religion divine is not homo bigotry as that's just a symptom, it's the insistence on providing excuses for heterosexual males to wallow in their innate inability to control their sexual urges and make women and the prevailing culture responsible for their personal failure. Actually, it doesn't make these religins divine, it makes them patriarchal and all too human.
Real men stand up and admit they make mistakes in the 'failure to choose properly department'. They don't fall back on excuses or play the blame game.
