Pope Benedict XVI speaks with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown during their meeting at the Vatican Feb. 19, 2009. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
Pope Benedict XVI has again shown just how necessary and effective it can be to speak out in the face of unjust legislation against the Church.
The British government today backed down from pursuing parts of its Equality Bill, legislation which would have removed the Church’s right to refuse employing certain lay staff including, for instance, the right of a Catholic school to employ a Catholic as a head teacher. The government’s decision came after a furore in Britain following the Holy Father’s remarks to the bishops of England and Wales over such legislation.
According to The Times newspaper: “Ministers were astonished on Monday when the Pope said that the Bill violated “natural justice” and urged bishops to fight it. But that attack, along with the strength of opposition in the Lords and the limited time left to get Bills passed before the election, has sapped the Government’s enthusiasm to continue the fight.”
The Times also reports that although Harriet Harman, the minister responsible for the legislation, made no mention of the Pope’s visit to Britain this year, “it is understood that the Government did not want the dispute to overshadow preparations.”
On Monday, the Pope told the bishops that the Bill and other types of similar legislation would “impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.” The Pope added: “I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended.”
The Holy Father’s words caused outrage in sections of the media, with some arguing that the Pope shouldn’t meddle in British politics. Others have drawn up a petition to protest against his visit which is expected to take place in September. A senior official told me the reaction took many by surprise as the words of the Pope were to be expected.
Yet the strength of the protests reveals just how anti-Christian much of Britain has sadly become, and that the Church has a real battle on its hands to ensure its voice continues to be heard in the public square in the face of similar ongoing legislation. Further concerns include the closure of Catholic adoption agencies because of rules forcing them not to discriminate against same-sex couples, and what appears to be increasing public support for a law permitting assisted suicide.
On Saturday, the Holy Father will address the bishops of Scotland, in Rome for their ad limina visit. According to one senior source, the Pope will tell the bishops much the same as he told their English and Welsh counterparts.
Whether his comments will spark another storm of protest remains to be seen, but what is clear is that all this controversy will ensure the Holy Father receives plenty of attention come September.
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Indeed, Britain is sinking into irrelevancy. The problem is education - people here just don’t seem to think things through properly on a number of issues, such as social issues like abortion, euthanasia and homosexuality.
Furthermore, my fellow Brits don’t seem to realise the problem is too much government interfering in our lives, ruining marriage, the family, the economy etc. It feels like many here are in servitude of the government and don’t realise it.
America, you’ve been warned. Just look across the Atlantic to see your possible future.
What an amazing evasion of the real issue! For the sake of a very narrow area of difference, namely, the employment of openly gay and lesbian or transgender people by Church owned organizations, the Equality bill is being scuttled.
And the Church of England bishops, many of whom occuppy a large closet themselves, are party to this deceit.
Churchill said of Neville Chamberlain when he returned promising peace as a result of caving into the demands of Hilter, “Behold the boneless wonder!”
It seems to be a British genetic defect that people in high office, ecclesiastical as well as secular, are born without a backbone.
Rev. Sarah Flynn
Burlington, VT
All actions are grounded in a premise. In the UK the Natural Law has been replaced in the ruling Labour party by a philosophy of equality that gives rights to gay groups at the expense of the rights of children in promoting adoptions by gays. The Natural Law is a fundamental right of mankind that was identified by the Ancient Greeks. From Sophocles around 500BC from Aristotle 350BC to Cicero 100BC. The Natural Law is in honoured in both Genesis 1:26 “God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them” and in the New Testament in Mark 10:6 Jesus said “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.” The Natural Law was endorsed by Saint Paul, Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. It was the premise of the Pilgrim Fathers in writing the Constitution of the United States. It is the premise of the UN Charter. It has long been breeched by in the UK by New Labour and what is perhaps worse is they do not understand what they have done. The Statement by Pope Benedict is very welcome and has been welcomed on a very wide front. The Labour Party is out of step with the nation as a whole and have shown themselves to be morally unfit to govern. The policy of quiet diplomacy by both the Anglican and Catholic Churches has been abused and trampled on. The Natural Law reflects the properties of being human. The dignity of the human person. Many on the secularist left seem to think that the Natural Law- Lex Naturalis was an invention by the Pope. The do not understand that he has paid witness to the Natural Law. If the Pope did not exist the design and rights of human beings would be unchanged. What Labour has done is to take the premise of a self appointed group and enforce adopted children to have unnatural parents in the case of gay adoptions. More than that it has said that Catholic adoption agencies must accept children in their care have the so called rights of gays to replace the Natural Law rights of children. New Labour then opened up a new front in this their Cristero War in trying to prevent the Catholic Church from having unsuitable candidates from joining the priesthood. There is in effect an attempted atheist reformation taking place in the UK in that a small number of individuals are driving the agenda and the bulk of Labour do not understand. There are already groups who are trying to make animals equal to humans. If you don’t have a premise and any road will do then self appointed groups under the premise of New Labour that you can make it up as you go along could ask for partnerships with animals. The Pope is simply pointing out how New Labour has strayed from the safety of the Natural Law to a great evil that is being imposed on an unwilling nation.
Mike Rooke has said it all. This little percentage of homosexuals making use of ignorant healthy straight persons to further thier agenda and we are allowing that all in the name of freedom and equality. What about the child’s equality to have what every other child has-A man for a father and a woman for a mother? NAtural Law predates Judaism and Christianity which are among the oldest if not the oldest religions and as such its not a religious battle but that of humanity that is true to itself. WAKE UP EUROPE!
I am very happy that the Pope stands for as he called it “Natural Justice”. in the face of this very secular world we need a father like the Pope to remind all that the church will challenge evil where ever it is.!
But i would love to hear from the pope about human right violations and chronic poverty in less developed countries too particularly in sub Saharan African countries. we catholics believes that the church need to be the voice for the voiceless too.
God Bless the Pope,
Mente
Another example of how effective the Catholic Church could be if its members practiced solidarity and spoke out against unjust laws and attempts of the secular minority to control ones beliefs. What we think is what we are. What we do and say is our belief in the Catholic faith and of Christ Jesus. If you are not a part of the solution then you are a part of the problem…..Via Benedict IVI…...
God bless the Holy Father for vanquishing what almost became law!
Yes, Sarah. Homosex is rampant in England and gay activists there and here in the US have destroyed the Episcopal Church, the fastest shrinking denomination in America. It isn’t that these people want to be included. They are now. It is about gaining the power to exclude those they perceive to be their enemies. The Pope, wise man that he is, recognizes what’s happening.
My Brethren, let us examine our attitudes , the bright ideas we have weather they are leading us to the closer following of Christ the ALPHA and OMEGA.We better listen attentively to the words of wisdom from our Pope, the Vicar of Christ
team should bring them out for the world to see. They would shock even the most jaded perverts.
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