Catholic Church cannot accept gay marriage, Pope says

[News_Editor]

Catholic Church cannot accept gay marriage, Pope says

2011-09-25 22:19:19 GMT+7 (ICT)

FREIBURG, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday said the Catholic Church cannot accept same-sex marriage and urged Christians to defend marriage between a man and a woman.

The 84-year-old pope made the remarks during a speech in Freiburg im Breisgau, a city in southwest Germany where tens of thousands of young people had gathered to welcome the leader of the Catholic Church. He discussed numerous topics during his speech, including gay marriage.

"Faith in God, the Creator of life, and unconditional adherence to the dignity of every human being strengthen faithful Christians vigorously to oppose every manipulative and selective intervention in the area of human life," the pope told the audience. "Knowing too the value of marriage and the family, we as Christians attach great importance to defending the integrity and the uniqueness of marriage between one man and one woman from any kind of misinterpretation."

Many people in the crowd cheered as the pope spoke. He also addressed other controversial issues such as abortion and euthanasia, and the speech came just a day after the pope met with German victims of sexual abuse by priests.

Earlier this year, on April 1st, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community marked the 10th anniversary of the first ever same-sex marriage in the world. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to officially recognize and allow same-sex marriages after Queen Beatrix signed the marriage bill on December 21, 2000. It went into law on April 1, 2001.

In addition to the Netherlands, same-sex marriage is currently performed in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Sweden. In Mexico, same-sex marriage is only performed in Mexico City, and the United States allows same-sex marriage in six states as well as Washington, D.C.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-09-25

[gk10002000]

I know many people that call themselves catholics will object to what the Pope said. Unfortunately, when you want to label yourself and join a group, you then associate yourself with that group's policies. There are many Christian organizations that are not as right wing conservative as catholics.

Live in peace.

[Scott]

Given the background of the church, this isn't surprising. The goal should be to get governments to accept gay marriage. Whether a religion or someone's family members accept it is secondary.

[Jingthing]

The trouble is that the Catholic church and other religions (and cults like Mormonism) work actively to STOP governments from allowing gay marriage. So the passive stance of saying, oh, it's a religion, whatever, doesn't exactly cut it. I agree it is a trivial thing whether religions themselves will perform marriages in jurisdictions where you can do an official marriage through a state institution.

Edited September 26, 2011 by Jingthing

[Scott]

Unfortunately, even if you convince the Catholic church, you still have the gov'ts to contend with.