Vatican City – Pope Benedict XVI waded deep into U.S. campaign politics Friday, urging visiting U.S. bishops to beef up their teaching about the evils of premarital sex and cohabitation, and denouncing what he called the “powerful” gay marriage lobby in America.
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As debate over health care coverage for birth control rages in the United States, Benedict said there was an urgent need for Catholics in America to discover the value of chastity — an essential element of Christian teaching that he said had been subject to unjust “ridicule.”
Benedict has long championed traditional marriage between man and woman, as well as opposition to premarital sex and fidelity within marriage. But his strong comments to visiting U.S. bishops took on particular significance given the culture wars that have erupted in the U.S. this campaign season.
U.S. bishops are currently locked in an election year battle with the Obama administration over federal funding for birth control.
In addition, bishops have been at the forefront of the campaign against same-sex marriage, with at least five U.S. states scheduling ballot measures on the issue in coming months. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the head of the U.S. conference of bishops and archbishop of New York, unsuccessfully lobbied against the legalization of gay marriage in his state.
The 84-year-old pope acknowledged his comments might sound anachronistic or “countercultural,” particularly to the young. But he told bishops to not back down in the face of “powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage.”
“Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage,” he said.
He also denounced what he called the failure of priests and bishops to instruct Catholics in core church teachings on human sexuality, saying many Catholics seem unaware that living together outside of marriage was “gravely sinful, not to mention damaging to the stability of society.”
The entire Christian community, he said, must recover an appreciation of the virtue of chastity.
“Young people need to encounter the church’s teaching in all its integrity, challenging and countercultural as that teaching may be; more importantly they need to see it embodied by faithful married couples who bear convincing witness to truth,” he said.
Benedict said a weakened appreciation for traditional marriage and the widespread rejection of responsible sexuality had led to “grave social problems bearing an immense human and economic cost.” He didn’t elaborate on what the cost was.
Groups of visiting U.S. bishops have been traveling to Rome for the past several months as part of bishops’ regular once-every-five-year visits with the pope and senior Vatican officials.
I think vos iz neias should find better stuff to talk about.
We don’t lecture the big German galach about all the child abuse that continues to plague the Catholic clergy. We don’t need him lecturing us about decisions we are allowed to make for ourselves in America. As frum yidden we choose not to engage in gay marriage, but it has been escalated by the Catholic lobby to a defining issue in their political framework that surpasses everything but abortion and excludes the traditional catholic concerns of assuring every LIVING human being has access to food, housing health care and a decent standard of living (aka jobs). They are passionate about having babies born but seem to be apathetic about their quality of life once they leave the pediatric ward.
I know I’m not gonna get a lot of folks on MY side of this one, but what’s new? (lol) I’ll say my opinion anyway:
I really think it STINKS that the Pope and\or The Catholic Church is once AGAIN interfering in people’s private lives, when it is so obvious & clear that they haven’t lived up to the tenants of their OWN teachings! Nevermind the fact that their religion is bogus & an offshoot of pure paganism to begin with ANYWAY…
But even putting that aside… how have they (throughout the years) EVER lived up to the tenants of their own religion?! Back in the day, they used to straight up torture, maim & kill in the name of their religion! And then once that didn’t work anymore, they basically just instituted a practice of SHAMING all of their congregants to get them to do what they want!
Advising battered & beaten-down women to stay w\their abusive husbands because “divorce is a sin”, to molesting boys & girls RIGHT & LEFT for decades, and either covering it up, or shaming the parents into covering it up to protect the church, and excommunicating people who had the courage to testify against them, etc.
Sorry, but they have N-O business telling other families have to live!
(con’t)
I’m all for people practicing their religion as they see fit, but the Catholic Church has been KNOWN for having it’s steely-clawed grip on this country practically since it’s founding! Even w\Protestants coming here trying to get away from them & their tyrannical gov’t! They STILL have managed to insert themselves & their religion, into the lives of people… whether they be Catholic or not!
And we’re seeing it now w\this most recent Birth Control debate, where they want employers, ANY employers, (whether they be Catholic or not, or even if they are taking PUBLIC money), to be able to REFUSE to provide an insurance program that will cover Birth Control!
WHAT?! Since when does my BOSS have the right to tell me, I don’t “deserve” to have my Birth Control covered by insurance & that he’s going to make that moral decision keeping me from it being covered, FOR me & my husband?! Without our approval?!
Now I don’t even *need* BC, but that’s not the point! This is just ONE more time, where the Catholic church is inserting itself & it’s practices into the lives of EVERYONE ELSE around them!
One thing I love about Judaism, is that they don’t treat people this way!
G-d bless U!
Agree with you Sherry!
Please, people, context!
The chief galach was giving shiur to his own talmidim, not lecturing the US on its politics. It’s like people jumping all over Rabbonim, l’havdil, that give a shmooze to their talmidim about the evils of the internet and the issur of smart phones.
It’s not for us, it’s for their audience.
The pope agrees with the Torah, so I guess he should be commended for standing up for morality- as far as child abuse scandals, u can’t expect people not to stand up for what’s right just because they are slacking in other areas.
Anothere thing that the Vatican does which annoys me, is that it always tries to tell sovereign U.S. states not to execute a particular individual. It tries to interfere with our domestic criminal justice system, because of its anti-death penalty agenda. During World War Two, when the Jews of Rome, Italy were being deported to certain death, the Vatican was noticeably silent, and did not protest the deportations. What hypocrisy!