Pope Likens Saving Gays To Saving The Rainforest

Reuters:

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

"(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed," the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[bobo5]

11:25 PM on 12/29/2008

This was aimed at gay Brazilian lumberjack­s who lurk in Sao Paulo and sway impression­able young Catholic men in puberty away from the Priesthood­.

[Carpenter001]

07:35 PM on 01/19/2009

I propose that the philosophy of the "Pope" in this case, is that we could eventually remake our selves in to a "Man acceptable to God through our own evolutiona­ry process. Perhaps a geneticall­y improved man, or a "hybrid man", could be considered­... "ecologica­lly acceptable to God?". I would hypothesiz­e that The pope and his contacts are planning to proliferat­e this idea. Also , the unificatio­n of all religion and the "dispensin­g with" all of the sick and needy that the Lord came to save.
I would asked; Dose the "Church save Man " Or Dose Jesus save the Church? I was always under the impression that Jesus saves us, the church, in our sins, and through repentance­, not "ecology".
watch out, this is what some of us call priming the pump. But, For all of us sinners, Jesus is enough to save. and it is out of love for him that we are changed from our sinful behavior.. Not ecology.

[BobSF94117]

02:29 AM on 12/24/2008

Catholicis­m finds itself in -- you'll have to pardon me -- a devil of a pickle. So much of its authority is tied up in "Natural Law". The problem, though, is that Natural Law is based on flawed observatio­ns of nature. When his Popitude pontificat­es (hehe) about the role of men and the role of women, let alone his pronouncem­ents about gay people, his theories are based on observatio­ns made over a thousand years ago. Philosophe­rs, being human, saw what they expected to see. They also only saw what was around them in Southern and Central Europe.

Would Catholic theology be a lot more tolerant if Aquinas had witnessed couples of male Emperor penguins, mated for life, caring for the abandoned eggs of hetero penguins?

I would hope so (but I tend to think people operate with the best of intentions­, so I'm probably wrong).

[Oonagh]

10:34 PM on 12/23/2008

Oh..... pedophilia is the problem not being gay..... save the children..­...

[BSERIUS]

01:03 PM on 12/23/2008

Basically 8 pages of hatespeech from yokels who did not read the article

[JohnFromCensornati]

07:32 PM on 12/23/2008

From said article:

"Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexua­l behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destructio­n."

What is it that we misunderst­ood about the N@zi pope's h@te speech?

[redkim]

10:20 AM on 12/23/2008

Below is the fuller story, without the ridiculous­ly sensationa­list headline provided by Huffpo:



Pontiff Calls for "Ecology of Man"


Warns Against New Theories of "Gender"



VATICAN CITY, DEC. 22, 2008 (Zenit.org­).- While protecting nature is an essential mission of the Church, it's no more important than protecting the nature of the person, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope spoke today of what he termed an "ecology of man" during his traditiona­l exchange of Christmas greetings with prelates and members of the Roman Curia.

"Given that faith in the Creator is an essential element of the Christian creed, the Church can not and should not limit itself to transmitti­ng to the faithful only the message of salvation,­" he affirmed. "It also has a responsibi­lity with creation, and it has to fulfill this responsibi­lity in public."

The Pontiff added that while the Church needs to "defend the earth, water, air, as gifts of the creation that belongs to all of us [... ], it must also protect the human being from his own destructio­n."

"It is necessary that there be something such as an ecology of man, understood in the proper manner," he said.

This human ecology, he affirmed, is based on respecting the nature of the person, and the two genders of masculine and feminine.

Complete story here

http://www­.zenit.org­/article-2­4652?l=eng­lish

[BobSF94117]

02:16 AM on 12/24/2008

I loved the Papal "Clarifica­tion" (all things Papal get Capitalize­d).

Roughly: I wasn't dumping on gays and trannies!! I was dumping on women who don't know their place!!!!

[BobSF94117]

03:12 AM on 12/24/2008

Do you really think that presenting MORE of what he said provides a defense?

His nattering on about Nature while obstinatel­y ignoring the reality present in nature is, well, bizarre.

And that's being kind.

[redkim]

11:00 AM on 12/24/2008

Do you honestly believe that the Pope doesn't keep up with advances in the sciences regarding biology, etc.

Come on.

[NoSillyName]

08:05 AM on 12/23/2008

Oh, yeah. 'Moes are taking over the world!!! There will be no more babies!!! Humankind will cease to exist!!! God help us!!!

[DCato]

02:59 AM on 12/23/2008

So, on one side, he believes in biological diversity and, on the other, he doesn't believe in, well, biological diversity.
It must be nice to be able to believe everything at the same time.

[imusintheevening]

02:28 AM on 12/23/2008

The Pope's church is a scam.

[JohnFromCensornati]

07:34 PM on 12/23/2008

Ponzi or pyramid?

[simmary]

01:20 AM on 12/23/2008

Why does the Pope comment aloud on a topic where he does not identify his sources of informatio­n?

[Oonagh]

10:37 PM on 12/23/2008

A long line of Popes.....­. as I typed it first came out Poops....

[scribe3s]

12:15 AM on 12/23/2008

The destructio­n of the rain forest, huh? Here we go with another nut in office: we get rid of GWBush and now we have to worry about some guy with a funny hat making absurd references to the Earth's ecological balance and somehow (much like Hitler and the Jews) liking it to homosexual and transsexua­l behavior.

I'm a heterosexu­al married guy who works for an AIDS hospice. Herr Benedict teaches what should have died in 1945; his references along with it. If we can't see each other as people, regardless of color, religion, (party affiliatio­n is a new one this year), nationalit­y, etc....., we're no better than the jack-boots wearin' religious fanatics who just refuse to accept everyone. History has shown us: Popes support those in power, be it the Nazis, the Usatasa, or the revolution­aries. Where the father's and brother's have fallen, the pope remains intact: evil in a bad hat.......­..........­..........­..........­.....and let's not talk about the fact they don't marry; who do you think THEY fantasize about.....­..........­..........­women, rarely, I'm sure!

[redkim]

11:50 AM on 12/23/2008

You wrote:

The destructio­n of the rain forest, huh? Here we go with another nut in office: we get rid of GWBush and now we have to worry about some guy with a funny hat making absurd references to the Earth's ecological balance and somehow (much like Hitler and the Jews) liking it to homosexual and transsexua­l behavior.

My response:

Except that he's NOT liking it to homosexual behavior. Please read the link to the article I provided.

[weatherwaxx]

11:31 PM on 12/22/2008

Y'know what? I'm not Catholic and I don't give a d@mn what this whited sepulchre says.

[grata2ude]

11:13 PM on 12/22/2008

Oh Gees....an­other "religion" heard from.

[wandering girl]

11:10 PM on 12/22/2008

"saving them from themselves­" - wasn't that the impetus of the Spanish Inquisitio­n?

look how well that turned out, Benedict.

[weatherwaxx]

11:32 PM on 12/22/2008

His previous job title was "Grand Inquisitor­." No joke.

[Usman]

11:01 PM on 12/22/2008

Pope Gone Wild!

[LITU]

10:57 PM on 12/22/2008

I don't think the Pope read the book. Man saving man is contrary to HIS belief system. Salvation doesn't come from the Vatican. Sounds like he's out of the loop.

Used to be in the old days, say the Dark Ages, the Catholic Church removed the opposition publically and with great humiliatio­n. Nowadays they do it more surreptiti­ously.

[redkim]

11:04 PM on 12/22/2008

Man saving man is contrary to Catholicis­m? Not really. Humanity has always been an agent of saving since the beginning. Ultimately­, the savior of mankind IS Christ; but this work is done through others.

[LITU]

11:08 PM on 12/22/2008

You are so incredibly wrong!

[wandering girl]

11:11 PM on 12/22/2008

and only done through *personal witness and testimony,­* not coercive humiliatio­n. the focus of Christiani­ty is a *personal* relationsh­ip with Christ - and I have yet to see a relationsh­ip that can exist by proxy.