Pope slams gay march as offence to Church

Pope slams gay march as offence to Church
REUTERS

VATICAN CITY, JULY 9: Pope John Paul on Sunday strongly condemned a gay rights march in Rome as an "offence to Christian values" and said the Catholic Church considered homosexual acts "against natural law".

His forceful remarks were expected to cause a storm ofprotest from gay activists following Saturday's World Gay Pride march, attended by at least 70,000 people.

They were also expected to become a political football between Italy's Centre-Left parties, which supported the march, and Centre-Right parties which said it should have been banned or postponed.

The 80-year-old Pope, speaking to tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St Peter's Square, reaffirmed that the Church considered homosexuality "objectively disordered".

"In the name of the Church of Rome, I must express sadness for the affront to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and the offence to Christian values of a city that is so dear to the heart of Catholics of the whole world," he said.

He said the Church "could not keep quiet about the truth" and had a duty to "distinguish between good and evil".

He then quoted from an entry on homosexuality in the Church's Catechism, which calls it "objectively disordered", but also says that homosexuals should be treated with compassion and respect and should not suffer "unjust discrimination".

Rome city officials, under pressure from the Vatican and Catholic groups, withdrew their official backing from the Gay Pride events, but allowed them to go ahead.

The crowd in the square broke into loud applause as the Pope said Saturday's march was an offence to Rome's Christian values.

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin, but homosexual acts are. "Homosexual persons are called to chastity," one section ofthe Catechism reads. It also says Scripture calls homosexual acts "acts of grave depravity".

Minister Katia Bellillo, Communist leader Fausto Bertinotti and Walter Veltroni, leader of the biggest party in Amato's coalition.

Far right members of the National Alliance party abandoned a plan for a counter-demonstration on Saturday, ensuring that the gay march was peaceful.

Alliance member Francesco Storace, President of the Lazioregion of which Rome is capital, said after the march that Italy should remember its conservative Christian legacy.

"A society develops if it produces children born from couples," he said. "I would remind you of Article 29 of our Constitution: the family is founded in marriage."

During Saturday's march, thousands of homosexuals marched through Rome, including drag queens who stripped down to their leather thongs and stiletto heels.

A number of marchers carried placards denouncing the Catholic Church. "1943: The Vatican says nothing about the deportation of Gays and Jews," one of the placards read. "2000: The Vatican speaks out against Gay Pride."

A group of eight men draped a huge banner across the street which read simply: "In memory of all those homosexuals persecuted and killed by the Catholic Church".