Roman Catholic Cardinal: Gays 'Will Never Go To Heaven'

AFP:

Homosexuals and transsexuals "will never enter the kingdom of heaven", a leading Roman Catholic cardinal said on Wednesday.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan said that while the Church regarded homosexuality as an "insult to God", this did not justify discrimination against gay and transsexual people...

Read the whole story: AFP

Comments

[Elbrando]

11:28 AM on 12/28/2009

Religeon is the merger of politics and spirituality. However, there seems to be less and less spirituality and more politics. This cardinal is not God and should stop speaking for her. It seems ironic that a religeon that was supposedly persecuted so much would then begin to persecute others. It reminds me of how children that are molested end up sometimes becoming molestors. Can't think of why that popped into my head.

[Cowboylove]

06:01 PM on 12/16/2009

I expect it is easier for a homosexual to enter the kingdom of heaven than most priests.

[metogamekun]

05:51 PM on 12/16/2009

Well, they can come to my heaven. We'll have much better musical theater and less freakin' judgement.

[richdibo]

09:03 PM on 12/07/2009

I don't think that anyone is going to heaven for a while - St. Peter has misplaced the keys.

God has asked St. Anthony to help him find them.

We all know what a pain it is when we lose keys.

[richdibo]

09:00 PM on 12/07/2009

Why do you think they call them "cardinal" sins?

[RTIII]

05:30 PM on 12/04/2009

The good cardinal was right; Homosexuals and transsexuals "will never enter the kingdom of heaven" for the simple reason that there is no 'kingdom of heaven."
.

[StevenKeirstead]

12:47 PM on 12/06/2009

That’s what I was thinking. Make your heaven on earth now people, you only get one life!

[jackbutler5555]

05:25 PM on 12/04/2009

There goes the Catholic BS, hate the sin, love the sinner.

[Jovan Givens]

04:27 PM on 12/04/2009

Ah, the last resolve. The absolute verse in the Bible that clearly forbids homosexuality. All the rest have been so blatantly debunked it's not worth arguing about Sodom and sulfur anymore I suppose. Cultural and historical context indicates that Paul, in short, was attempting to bridge the Gentile and Jewish Christians in Rome which had split as well as prepare the Roman Christians for his arrival in Rome (via letters). Paul regarded homosexual activity as a punishment to the idolaters by God because of their unfaithfulness (pagan temple prostitution). Furthermore, the verse in question is the only one that acknowledges lesbianism in the entire bible. Once again showing how the patriarchal cultural influences run rampant, as well as homophobia.
Look who's calling the kettle black.
"I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate... Nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. . .wretched man that I am!..." - St Paul.
Yeah, Paul believed homosexuality was a sin alright.
Now I wonder what he was referring to. I wonder what it's like to be a self-loathing saint.

[eschenk718]

10:00 AM on 12/04/2009

Here is someone who may have a hard time making it through the pearly gates. He is trying to do God's job. By the way, I just read they are redoing the bible again. Feel it is too liberal. How can so many people claim it is the word of God and then they change it. Have these new people also been inspired by God. I believe in God, but so much religion is something God wouldn't belong to.

[feyangel]

09:41 AM on 12/04/2009

Perhaps the indecent acts were not sexual in nature. Perhaps it was judging another man or lying about him or burning him at the stake or torturing him or imprisoning him unjustly or shooting him or stealing from him or whatever. Perhaps it wasn't making love with him-- and maybe these horny priests are reading a lot into those words. I personally think we'd all be better off if everyone stopped judging everyone else against THEIR INTERPRETATION of God's Will and God's Words. Let's all just wait til we get to the "other side"-- then we will know for sure who "gets in" and who doesn't. My personal thing is I suspect RIGHTEOUS Christians and other "holy folks" may be at the end of the line. I think Christ asked us to focus on loving and helping our fellow humans. . . which doesn't seem to be a high priority from many "religious" people these days.

But-- hey-- I could be wrong and the could be right. All each of us can do is live by the values and standards we believe in.

[beyobi]

09:36 AM on 12/04/2009

"Those who realize that God can not be known, truly know; those who claim that they know, know nothing. The ignorant think that God can be grasped by the mind; the wise know it beyond knowledge."

The Upanishads

[richdibo]

08:55 PM on 12/07/2009

Thank you for your post of Vedantic philosophy. It assumes that its goal - a state of union with a godhead (Brahman or Atman) - is knowable and achievable through a path of non-attachment. If not, why bother?

I see it as a clause in all religions that toots its own whistle while denying validity of other paths. If god is unknowable, then this approach should be equally invalid.

Its a true and beautiful statement. It's like the farmer who, while preparing his field for seed, strikes his own foot with his hoe - its source is religious. Sounds a lot better from a Humanist.

If our minds are not capable of grasping god because god is unknowable, why bother? I feel justified staying home as a kid and watch the football game on TV while my mother tried to drag me to church.

[StupidPeopleSuck]

09:34 AM on 12/04/2009

If people like you and Sarah Palin are going to heaven, hopefully I won't go there either.

[alwaysthere]

09:07 AM on 12/04/2009

a mass of confusion

what a sad legacy

I love message of Jesus
a book some might enjoy Jesus Among Other Gods
also a wonderful Priest named Father Mike Manning
And this humble prayer
Father in Heaven
Restore out hearts
To know you
And in that knowing
May we become as delicate and as loving as you
And for my part in the non-sense Father
Forgive me as I forgive

[richdibo]

11:05 PM on 12/07/2009

"a mass of confusion"

There's confusion at masses, too. I was an altar boy.

[gumbo1049]

08:42 AM on 12/04/2009

HOW DOES HE KNOW

[richdibo]

07:57 PM on 12/07/2009

He reads the bible - St. Paul.

Now how can that be wrong?

If St. Paul says it, well . . .

[Elbrando]

11:31 AM on 12/28/2009

So some guy that lived almost 2000 years ago, never met Jesus, and persecuted Christians should be the definitive authority on the meaning of all of creation. Pardon me if I laugh.

[OuterBanx North12]

08:40 AM on 12/04/2009

There was something in the New Testament about living modestly, how Jesus mentioned you need nothing material in this world but a cloak and a staff.

It seems the Vatican translated that as "take the offerings of your followers and build an obscenely opulent palatial estate while those for whom it was intended starve".

[HeresaClue]

09:11 AM on 12/04/2009

Oh come now, everyone knows that there are "real" parts of the bible, just like there are "real" Americans. The rest doesn't matter.