Pope Homophobe
According to Sister Jeannine Gramick, "who was ordered by Ratzinger to stop ministering to gays and lesbians," the choice of Ratzinger as Pope is one way to keep the Church stuck in the Middle Ages.
Sister Gramick has the art of understatement fully mastered: "It does not bode well for people who are concerned for lesbian and gay people in the church."
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force does not mince words, noting that Ratzinger has a well-documented record of "unrelenting, venomous hatred for gay people. "
In fact, Ratzinger (why did God give him that name?) is such a bigot that he routinely uses the Bush word - EVIL - to describe all things gay. The good news is that there is an ocean between some of us and Pope Homophobe. Sorry for the rest of you. That's all the good news I have today.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force does an oustanding job of illustrating exactly who and what is evil. They do it in one paragraph, an excerpt is below, or read it all here.
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force On the Election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope
"As a long-time Catholic from a staunchly Catholic family, I know that the history of the church is full of shameful, centuries-long chapters involving vilification, persecution, and violence against others. Someday, the church will apologize to gay people as it has to others it has oppressed in the past. I very much doubt that this day will come during this Pope's reign. In fact, it seems inevitable that this Pope will cause even more pain and give his successors even more for which to seek atonement."
- Matt Foreman
Executive Director
UPDATE: For details on Ratzinger's Nazi background, see Sharon Cobb. Also, see Pope Fatigue over at Reject Religion. And you know Raving Atheist has something to say on the subject.
