[as originally posted 12/26/08 on my formerly free thinking blog http://tworippingarseholes.blogspot.com/ ]
So what has "God's rottweiler", Pope Benedict XVI, done to win this Arse-O-theWeek award?
Well, not much really - if you disregard his pre-Christmas calculated affronts to the dignity of homosexual persons stemming from his assertion that humankind needs "saving" from homosexuality, the way the rainforests need saving from being raped and pillaged. Aside from that, not much.
Of course, attacking God's gay flock is de rigueur for this Pontiff. After all, he's already on the record saying homosexuality is a "gateway" practice that leads to "intrinsic moral evil". So really, nothing new here. But to engage in this kinda crap three days before Christmas? Jesus, that was poor form - even for a Christian.
Couldn't Benny have just embraced the spirit of the season and left it at that? Did he have to spew his antiquated views on the morality of adult sexual behaviour? I mean, if somebody like Smart Arse wants to have a long term relationship with his 'Blow-up Betty' doll what is it to me? Well, apparently such behaviour bothers the 'Presider' who oversees easily the most draconian and hateful anti-gay policy of any church. And it should surprise nobody that he chose to vent this Christmas even though his own complicity in covering up the abuse of children makes these particular attacks on the dignity of homosexuals all the more repulsive.
Now his defenders will say we are wrong, that he has amor omnibus idem. Maybe so. But professing one's 'love for all' does not excuse a fanatical preoccupation with demonizing fags. [n.b. Smart Arse believes we shouldn't say 'fags'. I, Fat Arse, don't believe it's an issue, but admit I've been wrong before!]
What's important here is how the Pope's "end-of-year speech" used dogma to damn the 'other'. By saying gender theory blurred the distinction between male and female, Benedict willfully wandered into marginal social theory territory to cloak his bigotry. Calling for "an ecology of the human being" to protect mankind "from self-destruction" was mere obfuscation of his main point: that fags need not apply for acceptance into the Pope's mythical Kingdom of Heaven. Nice.
Some find it appalling that Pope Benedict XVl can somehow equate his dislike for homosexuality with the ecological crisis that threatens the planet. And, they say, if only he knew a little science, he would realize we are born with our sexual orientation. But what are we to expect from a cloistered old man. He is a staunch defender of conservative theology who has an abiding hatred for progressive movements dating back to the 1950s. He believes Vatican II went too far. He campaigns against liberation theology because it is too close to Marxism, and (as if there is any difference between the two!) he cannot stand the possibility of religion being subordinated to political ideology.
An unfettered 'retrenchment artist', building bridges is not this mortal man's strong-suit. In 2000, he wrote that other Christian denominations were not true churches, because, unlike the Catholic Church, they are unable to offer the “means of salvation.” In July 2007, he tried to reassert the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church when he approved a Vatican release saying Orthodox Churches were "defective" because they do not recognize his Holiness's primacy(?).
Not content to limit his indictments to only the 'faux' Christian organizations, in 2006, Peppy Benny enflamed Muslims in speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor as calling Islam "evil and inhuman." Of course, just like a habitual wife-abuser, he later apologized, claiming he was misunderstood and he dutifully promised never to do it again. But most egregious of all was his recent opposition to a proposed UN declaration, backed by all 27 European Union states, calling for an end to the practice of criminalizing and punishing people for their sexual orientation. Again, nice!
A frigid warrior, relentless in his persecution of the Gay Community, Pope Benedict, has said he may relax the Church's ban on condoms to allow their use by people infected with HIV. Wow. Mighty big of him. Too bad the church continues to condemn the use of condoms by people before they get get HIV!
As some Catholic publications defend his assertion that the human race is... imperiled by gay and lesbian families, and some say the hubbub is little more than the "usual" anti-Benedict brigade ... spewing out their vile hatred for this wonderful Pope that God has blessed us with - We, with respects, beg to differ.
And while any arsehole can decry the obvious - the Pope's subsequent Christmas message of "hope" (his "Urbi et Orbi") seems shallow when juxtaposed against his message from 72 hours earlier. Indeed, it is sad to think that with everything going on in the world today that what keeps the pope awake at night is the idea that human beings might be able to seek out their own sexual identity to have a happy life. And for that, we have decided that this petty-Pope is deserving of our Arse-O-theWeek award.
God-bless and Happy New Year!
