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Gay News: The majority of British people disagree with the Pope on key moral, social and human rights issues, says human rights activist Peter Tatchel
By: Nigel Robinson
Pope not welcome, says Tatchell
Pope not welcome, says Tatchell
Pope not welcome in Britain, says Tatchell
Addressing a meeting at the Old Town Hall in Richmond, south-west London, on 12 August, Tatchell was speaking a month before Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the UK.
While believing that the Pontiff had the democratic right to come to the UK and express his opinions, Tatchell said that the British people had the same right to tell the head of the Catholic Church that he was not welcome here.
As a spokesperson for the Protest the Pope campaign, Tatchell called on the British government to disassociate itself with the Pope's intolerant teachings on issues such as women's rights, gay equality and the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV.
On these and many other issues, Pope Benedict was out of step with the majority of British people, including most Catholics, claimed Tatchell.
He went on to say that on many social issues the Pope rejected human rights, including access to artificial contraception, IV fertility treatments and potentially life-saving embryonic stem cell research.
“Benedict XVI has denounced the use of condoms, even to stop the spread of HIV,” Tatchell continued.
“He has also claimed that condom usage may ‘increase’ the rate of HIV infection. His dishonest teachings discourage a proven way to reduce HIV transmission; thereby putting millions of lives at risk…
“In 1992, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he authored a Vatican document that condemned homosexuality as an ‘objective disorder’ and a ‘strong tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil’.
“In 1992, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he authored a Vatican document that condemned homosexuality as an ‘objective disorder’ and a ‘strong tendency ordered towards an intrinsic moral evil’.
“Rejecting the concept of gay human rights, the document asserted that there is no ‘right’ to laws protecting homosexual people against discrimination, suggesting that the civil liberties of lesbians and gay men can be ‘legitimately limited for objectively disordered external conduct’.
“The Pope has attacked same-sex marriages as ‘evil’ and vilified supporters of gay equality as ‘gravely immoral’.
“The Pope has attacked same-sex marriages as ‘evil’ and vilified supporters of gay equality as ‘gravely immoral’.
“He has also denounced homosexual equality as a ‘deviant trend’ and condemned same-sex love as being ‘without any social value’.
“He even threatened to excommunicate Catholic legislators who voted for gay rights laws.”
Tatchell also claimed that the Pope has played a role in shielding Catholic clergy guilty of child sex abuse from prosecution.
He cited as evidence a letter the then Cardinal Ratzinger addressed to all Catholic bishops which ordered Papal silence concerning allegations of child sex abuse.
Tatchell went on to criticise the Pope for paving the way to sainthood for Pope Pius XII who, during the Second World War, refused to speak out publicly, either before or after the Holocaust, against the Nazis’ mass murder of six million Jews.
“Pius XII was no saint,” said Tatchell.
“Pius XII was no saint,” said Tatchell.
“The fact that Pope Benedict wants to makes him a saint shows how far he has strayed from the moral and ethical values of most Catholics and most of humanity.”
The Pope will visit the UK from 16 – 19 September. The visit will be funded by the UK taxpayer.
