Pope: Gay marriage a 'threat to humanity'
Still rather than discuss the issues raised by the Pope in an adult manner the easiest thing to do is to change the subject. Update: Thanks to a link provided by Zen in a comment I have read the Popes speech which talks of many substantive things.
It does not mention Gay Marriage at all!
In a section discussing education the Pope says
Pope Benedict says gay marriage is one of several threats to the traditional family that undermines "the future of humanity itself".Raw meat tossed to enlightened 21st century types who think that babies come from the cabbage patch or something. And from whence they may be distributed to "parents" who want them regardless of gender and/or sexual identity.
The pope made some of his strongest comments against gay marriage in a new year address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Vatican in which he touched on some economic and social issues facing the world today.
He told diplomats from nearly 180 countries that the education of children needed proper "settings" and that "pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman''.
Still rather than discuss the issues raised by the Pope in an adult manner the easiest thing to do is to change the subject.
It does not mention Gay Marriage at all!
In a section discussing education the Pope says
(Education) thus represents a task of primary importance in this difficult and demanding time. In addition to a clear goal, that of leading young people to a full knowledge of reality and thus of truth, education needs settings. Among these, pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman. This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself. The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and States; hence there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid social cohesion and dialogue.The fact that the Pope needs to clarify the genders involved in marriage is a sign of the times. Until the turn of the 21st century, a mere 11 years ago now when discussing a marriage it would have been assumed that it was of a man and a woman and not something that needed to be stated explicitly.
As I thought. The Pope did not say "gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family"
ReplyDeleteHe said nothing about it at all in that respect. The media just wants to frame what he said in those terms.
I'll post links to the actual transcript later. Bit busy right now.
ReplyDeleteThe Pope did not specifically say that Gay Marriage was a threat to humanity, that is the sole implication the media chose to take. His comment was actually much more expansive, but specifically talked about condemning sex selection of the baby and embryonic stem cell research:
ReplyDeleteThe family unit is fundamental
for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and States; hence there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid
social cohesion and dialogue. It is in the family that we become open to the world and to life and, as I pointed out during my visit to Croatia, “openness to
life is a sign of openness to the future”.
In this context of openness to life, I note with satisfaction the recent sentence of the Court of Justice of the European Union forbidding patenting processes relative to human embryonic stem cells, as well as the resolution of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemning prenatal selection on the basis of sex.
Pope's actual Speech
Thanks for your update Andrei. I think we have to get the source information out there more.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the fact that he defined what marriage is has lead to all of the upset liberals who were planning on having the freedom to marry their cat..or do they want to start restricting the meaning all of a sudden?