Why we oppose the Pope's State Visit to Britain
Pope Benedict preaches intolerance & rejects key human rights
Even most Catholics oppose many of his teachings
London - 13 August 2010
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who is also a spokesperson for the Protest the Pope campaign, spoke at a public
meeting in Richmond, London, last night.
In his speech, he set out many of the reasons why the majority of the British people disagree with the Pope on key
moral, social and human rights issues.
Text of Peter Tatchell's speech at the Protest the Pope public meeting at the Old Town Hall, Richmond, on 12 August
2010:
Pope Benedict comes to Britain next month. As democrats, we believe he has every right to come here and express his
opinions. But we also have a right to protest against his often harsh, extreme views. We have a right to say that he is
not welcome.
The Protest the Pope campaign is calling on the British government to disassociate itself from 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, Benedict is out of step with the majority of British people, including most Catholics.
We also object to his visit being funded by the taxpayer. Much of his itinerary involves religious and spiritual events.
It is not appropriate that these are paid for by the public. After all, we don't fund visits by the Grand Mufti of Mecca
or the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.
On so many important social issues, the Pope rejects human rights.
Pope Benedict opposes women's ordination. Women are deemed unfit to preach the gospel. This is an insult to the whole
female sex. The implication of the Pope's teaching is that women have no moral capability or capacity for spiritual
leadership. This is pure patriarchy, sexism and misogyny.
The Pope says artificial contraception is a sin. He condemns poor parents to having large families that they can't care
for adequately. In some countries, priests spread the lie that contraception makes women sick.
Pope Benedict opposes IVF fertility treatment, to give childless couples the chance of parenthood. This is odd. The
Catholic Church says having children is God's will but denies this option of parenthood to infertile couples.
The Pope rejects potentially life-saving embryonic stem cell research, which could help find cures for terrible
illnesses like motor neurone disease - saving lives and improving people's quality of life. Surely this research is
fulfilling Christian values and ideals?
Benedict XVI has denounced the use of condoms, even to stop the spread of HIV. 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.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/lancet-says-pope-distorting-condom-facts-1655647.html
The Pope has colluded with the Vatican's promotion of the lie that condoms spread HIV because latex is porous to the
virus (sic). This is an outrageous falsehood and has been condemned as untrue and irresponsible by scientists and
medical professionals.
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."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Some+considerations+concerning+the+Catholic+response+to+legislative...-a0128671084
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.
While condemning loving, consenting adult same-sex relations, the Pontiff played a role in shielding Catholic clergy
guilty of child sex abuse from prosecution.
In 2001, Pope Benedict wrote a letter to all Catholic Bishops, which ordered Papal silence concerning allegations of
child sex abuse. He instructed the Bishops to report all such cases to him in Rome, so the idea that he did not know
about sex abuse by priests is nonsense. His letter did not tell Bishops to report the abusers to the police.
The esteemed Catholic theologian, Hans Kung, said the Pope bears co-responsibility for the cover-up and that Benedict
has failed to apologise for his own personal shortcomings during the child sex abuse scandal.
For more than two decades, as a Cardinal and as a Pope, Joseph Ratzinger has attempted to reverse the liberalising
trends of the Second Vatican Council - pushing the whole church back to a more orthodox, conservative agenda. He's
strengthening the hierarchy and autocracy of the Vatican and the Papacy.
This has prompted a grassroots Catholic revolt - the "We are Church" movement - which seeks a more democratic,
transparent, accountable church.
The Pope has condemned liberation theology, as espoused by Catholic theologians such as Gustavo Gutierriz and Leondaro
Boff, and he has opposed the worker priest movement. He preaches social justice but attacks those clergy who advocate
political action to reform society and make it more just.
Earlier this year, Pope Benedict rescinded the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson who, in 2008, denied key
elements of the Holocaust; claiming that a maximum of 300,000 Jews died in concentration camps and that none were gassed
by the Nazis.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7869565.stm
Benedict has also paved the way for eventual sainthood of Pope, Pius XII, despite the war-time pontiff's failure to
speak out publicly, either during or after the Holocaust, against the Nazi mass murder of six million Jews and millions
of others, including Russian, Polish, disabled, gay and Roma people - and many more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/21/pope-benedict-moves-pius-closer-sainthood
Pius XII was no saint. 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.
ENDS