The Vatican's Grotesque Approach to Homosexuality

by Michael Jones · 2008-12-02 08:04:00 UTC
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VaticanIt's not everyday that the Vatican is called "grotesque" by mainstream publications.  But that's what one of Italy's largest newspapers, La Stampa, labeled the Vatican as the Pope's home tries to block a non-binding proposed UN resolution calling on governments worldwide to decriminalize homosexuality.

The Vatican issued a "slippery slope" argument for their opposition to this measure, saying that it could lead to same-sex marriages throughout the world.  Apparently us gay folks are like nuclear weapons that way - you allow one country to have them, and then all of a sudden....

For the Vatican to oppose this measure is not only grotesque, it's the antithesis of Christ-like.

The measure simply calls on governments around the world to (1) stop throwing homosexuals in jail, or in extreme circumstances (2) stop executing them.   The resolution has been signed by every country in the European Union, and France is due to submit the resolution to the UN on December 10 - the day that we'll mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

So instead of aligning themselves with the EU countries on this issue, the Vatican has chosen to line itself up with Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Burundi, Afghanistan, and Sudan and the nearly EIGHTY other countries that punish homosexuality with significant jail time or death. Way to go, Vatican.  I think we can also appreciate the Vatican's complete lack of tact in issuing their statement of opposition on World AIDS Day 2008.  The criminalization of homosexuality is one of the biggest impediments in fighting HIV/AIDS around the world.

And, to top it all off, the Vatican's opposition to this measure comes on the heels of an effort started in October to weed homosexual priests and seminary students out of the Church. The new Catholic policy, released by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, reiterated that men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies were unworthy of ordination, and urged seminaries to enlist the aid of psychologists in screening candidates for homosexuality and other "psychic disturbances."

I think what's psychically disturbing is that a Church with a rich history of a Gospel rooted in social justice is throwing that out the window to focus on an issue that Jesus never once mentioned in the entire New Testament.  Now that really is grotesque.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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