Quote :

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said Monday that gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family that undermined "the future of humanity itself."

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."

"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," he said.

The Vatican and Catholic officials around the world have protested against moves to legalize gay marriage in Europe and other developed parts of the world.

One leading opponent of gay marriage in the United States is New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, whom the pope will elevate to cardinal next month.

Dolan fought against gay marriage before it became legal in New York state last June, and in September he sent a letter to President Barack Obama criticizing his administration's decision not to support a federal ban on gay marriage.

In that letter Dolan, who holds the powerful post of president of the U.S. Bishops Conference, said such a policy could "precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions."

The Roman Catholic Church, which has some 1.3 billion members worldwide, teaches that while homosexual tendencies are not sinful, homosexual acts are, and that children should grow up in a traditional family with a mother and a father.

"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," Benedict told the diplomats.

Gay marriage is legal in a number of European countries, including Spain and the Netherlands.

Some Churches that have allowed gay marriage, women priests, gay clergy and gay bishops have been losing members to Catholicism, and the Vatican has taken steps to facilitate their conversion.

In 2009, Benedict decreed that Anglicans who leave their Church, many because they feel it has become too liberal, can find a home in Catholicism in a parallel hierarchy that allows them to keep some of their traditions.

The Vatican has since set up "ordinariates," structures similar to dioceses, in Britain and the United States to oversee ex-Anglicans who have converted and be a point of contact for those wishing to do so.

No offense to me straight friends on here, but it seems to me as if straight folks done much more to "threaten" humanity. It's so bizarre that anyone would follow this guy and his silly ideas.

tmontyb wrote:

No offense to me straight friends on here, but it seems to me as if straight folks done much more to "threaten" humanity. It's so bizarre that anyone would follow this guy and his silly ideas.

and the truth is religion has been, is & will continue to be a bigger threat to the future of humanity. If these people could just mind their own damn business & leave people the hell alone the world would be a much better place.

CeCe wrote:

and the truth is religion has been, is & will continue to be a bigger threat to the future of humanity. If these people could just mind their own damn business & leave people the hell alone the world would be a much better place.

The pope is one to talk about what's a threat to humanity, we know what he and all his cohorts do with the altar boys.

Supernova wrote:

The pope is one to talk about what's a threat to humanity, we know what he and all his cohorts do with the altar boys.

Um, no you don't. This is getting ridiculous. You always hear about teachers fooling around with kids but we never hear that all teachers are doing it. This fallacious "all priests are pedos" thing is old and tired and frankly, immature for people to cling to. The pope hasn't molested kids. The VAST majority of of priests have NOT molested kids. A fraction of a percent have. The molestation rate of priests is lower than in any other freaking profession, including Protestant ministers. The Church got the spillover. But since people just hate the Church, they'll stereotype all priests as sick pedos based on zero evidence whatsoever.

It also amazes me that people actually report what the pope thinks about gay marriage as news. The pope is anti-gay marriage? Gosh, slow news day? Furthermore, it never fails to baffle me why the hell people give a damn what the pope thinks, especially non-Catholics. I sure as hell don't give a damn what any Protestant leaders think or what any high-ranking officials of any opposing religion think. (Heck, I don't even give a damn what political leaders think and ours actually do have influence here.)

And frankly, if we can change marriage one way, we can change it in any way. I say we get government out of marriage altogether. All that does is bring absolutely nothing but headaches. We want equality? Nobody gets a legal marriage. You want to get hitched? Find a Church that'll take you and get some freaking legal documents to get the rest of the marital perks.

Gosh, the bigotry of people AGAINST the Church is what is truly amusing about the "we gotta have tolerance" crowd of the day.

And I can already predict the responses to this.

^^Do you agree with the Pope that gay marriage is a threat to humanity's future FM?

Strange, I thought that Hitler's Brown Shirts were a bigger threat to humanity. But let us not cling to the ungodly acts of a young man who never had any thoughts that one day he might be pope...

So if gays do not marry, humanity's future is safe? Gays marry, they are stll gay--Gays do not marry, the are still gay...how is one situation a greater threat to humanity's future and the other safer?

zthatzmanz28 wrote:

...So if gays do not marry, humanity's future is safe? Gays marry, they are stll gay--Gays do not marry, the are still gay...how is one situation a greater threat to humanity's future and the other safer?

Well, first they marry, then they start having gay kids, and next ... next thing ... you know ...

OH, NEVERMIND!

Shale wrote:

Well, first they marry, then they start having gay kids, and next ... next thing ... you know ...

OH, NEVERMIND!

There are a bunch of little Brown Shirt facists wanting to be pope?

Quote :

No offense to me straight friends on here

None taken!

What did he say about nuclear bombs?

I suppose the Pope has to say dumb things from time to time. I feel the biggest threat to humanity is all religions. Wasn't atheists who attacked the US on 9-11, it wasn't atheists who brought down the Murra building, etc etc etc!

So Pope Benedict said that gay marriage is going to undermined "the future of humanity itself." Holy St. Malahy, Batman! I thought the world was going to end because there's only one more Pope after him.

I generally don't watch this show but I'm impressed that some common sense came out of Elizabeth's mouth for a change.