VATICAN CITY — A senior African Vatican official has called on U.S. and African Catholic bishops to respond more forcefully to efforts by the United Nations to impose policies on African nations that run contrary to the faith and the continent’s culture.
Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, responded forcefully to a speech given by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who told African nations to repeal criminal laws that place sanctions on homosexual conduct and to stop discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Speaking to the Register Feb. 13 on the sidelines of a conference on Africa at the Vatican, the Guinean cardinal said “African bishops must react” to such a move, as “this is not our culture; it’s against our faith.” He described the secretary general’s comments as “stupid” and added that the “Catholic bishops of America must help us in Africa, by reacting themselves.”
“It’s not possible to impose on the poor this kind of European mentality,” he said.
In a Jan. 28 address to 54 African nations at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ki-moon said discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender equality “has been ignored or even sanctioned by many states for far too long.” He added that some governments treat homosexual people as “second-class citizens or even criminals” and that “we must live up to the ideals of the Universal Declaration.”
According to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), most African countries frown upon homosexuality as immoral and degrading, with many criminalizing homosexual acts, some even going as far as prescribing the death penalty. Many of these laws post-date the colonial period and have been enacted during the past 10 years. In most of these countries, “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender” (LGBT) rights are not even contemplated as possibilities in the distant future.
Basing itself on sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, the Church has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstance can they be approved (2357).”
“The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfil God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition (2358).”
Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said some of the sanctions imposed on homosexuals in Africa are an “exaggeration,” but argued that the “intensity of the reaction is probably commensurate with tradition.”
Referring to the issue of stigma surrounding homosexuality in Africa, the cardinal said it is important to understand the reasons behind it. “Just as there’s a sense of a call for rights, there’s also a call to respect culture, of all kinds of people,” he said. “So, if it’s being stigmatized, in fairness, it’s probably right to find out why it is being stigmatized.”
Moreover, the cardinal called for a distinction to be made between moral issues and human rights.
“We [the Church] push for the rights of prisoners, the rights of others; and the last thing we want to do is infringe upon the rights of anyone. But when you’re talking about what’s called ‘an alternative lifestyle,’ are those human rights?” the cardinal said. “He [Ban ki-moon] needs to recognize there’s a subtle distinction between morality and human rights, and that’s what needs to be clarified.”
C-FAM notes that mentions of “LGBT” rights in the international context are ambiguous at best. It says that reference is frequently made to the rights of all human beings to be free from violence and discrimination, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treaties. But it adds that the object of such mentions “is evidently the adoption of the whole gamut of demands by the homosexual lobby, beginning with the removal of penal laws proscribing homosexual conduct, then granting homosexual unions the same legal rights as married couples, and ending with the recognition of all manner of sexual orientations and gender identities.”
The pro-life group, which defends sovereignty and human dignity at the United Nations and other international institutions, stressed that such rights “were rejected, or not even contemplated, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treaties were drafted.”
International legal experts also point out that no international treaty mentions the rights of homosexual persons and that it is “beyond the scope of the secretary general and other world leaders to re-interpret international law to push homosexual persons’ rights on other nations.” So far, C-FAM notes, “few nations have given any indication that they will bow to such pressure.”
Asked if Ban Ki-moon was overstepping his responsibilities, Cardinal Sarah replied: “Sure, you cannot impose something stupid like that.” He added: “Poor countries like Africa just accept it because it’s imposed upon them through money, through being tied to aid.” Last year, Hillary Clinton declared the Obama administration would fight discrimination against homosexuals abroad by using foreign aid and diplomacy. British Prime Minister David Cameron also proposed doing the same.
The cardinal said he felt that bishops worldwide have not been strong enough in resisting these kinds of agendas coming from the U.N. and other world leaders.
“The Holy Father is alone; he’s isolated. The bishops should support him more strongly,” he said. “I don’t think they’ve supported him enough. Maybe some bishops from Spain have fought; in France, Belgium, Germany, they didn’t react.”
But above all on this issue, he would like to see African bishops speaking out more forcefully: “That could also be a help for European bishops.”
Edward Pentin is the Register’s Rome correspondent.
Edward Pentin: Improving Communication of Pope's Early Morning Homilies
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What a stupid fight to start in Africa. Perhaps genital mutilation and genocide and AIDS and striving babies weren’t enough for the U.N… Ridiculous.
What does he know about making money? My grand-daughter works from her dorm room on the internet. Last weekend she told that she makes nearly $31/hr and $4800 every month. Thats more than what I collect! she says anyone can do it because of advances in the internet. she showd me this article and I was stunned, “wvw.makecash29.co"m.
It’s so refreshing to have such great church leaders such as Cardinal Sarah standing up for the Truth and not being bullied by the secularist, atheistic thugs at carnival show that is the UN. In the past especially in the US and Western Europe previous bishops and cardinals would have rolled over. Now many cardinals, bishops and priests are using their voice and witness to stand up for the Truth! Well done Cardinal Sarah. You and your fellow African prelates and priests remain in my prayers.
Yes, there has to be a strong outcry in defense of cardinal Sarah by the Vatican and anyone who’s a christian. It’s appalling that this current regime we are under extends it’s liberal agenda throughout the world! We must stand up for our African brothers and sisters in Christ!!!
I’m confused. Is it being said that discriminatin against gays in Africa shouldn’t be addressed because of their culture?
Or it shouldn’t be addressed because their behavior is morally wrong? Or should it be addressed?
The Roman Catholic Church directly supports throwing ALL Gay people in prison for the ‘crime’ of being Gay. Source: Bishops of Nigeria in multiple mass media sources.
The Roman Catholic Church directly supports throwing members of progressive churches in prison for up to 10 years for the ‘crime’ of attending a religious ceremony in accordance with that progressive religious faith. Source: Bishops of Nigeria in multiple mass media sources.
The Roman Catholic Church supports the criminalization of ALL Gay men in Belize. Source: public statements in the Belizian mass media by the Bishop of Belize.
C-FAM is linked to organizations that support the denial of freedom of petition, protest, assembly, expression, association, and speech for Gay persons. They are partners of the World Congress of Families, which hosted a demographic summit in Russia where the sponsored speaker, Archpriest Smirnov, was reported by Gayrussia.eu as going on Russian television to encourage police forces to physically assault peaceful gay rights protesters (the protesters were subsequently assaulted - witnesses said the assaulters came out of police buses). C-FAM is in communion with Family Watch International through World Congress of Families, which cheerleads Iran and Syria at the UN when they avoided condemnation for EXECUTING and jailing people, simply because they are openly Gay.
If you think that Gay people should be throwing in jailcamps for the ‘crime’ of being Gay, support the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria and Belize (as well as the Vatican, who has taken ZERO actions to stop this practice). If you think that the case against Gay rights is so weak that you must ban opponents from speaking in public in favor of Gay rights, support C-FAM. If you think that Iran hanging Gay people from cranes simply because they are Gay is not worthy of UN condemnation, support C-FAM and its association with WCF and Family Watch International. If you think that progressive Christians should be throwing in jail for practicing their faith, support the Roman Catholic Church of Nigeria and whomever in the Vatican that is supposed to be overseeing those Bishops.
As I have stated elsewhere before, this American Abomination of same-sex abberation, was shoved down our throats here in Kenya when we were drafting our new Constitution in 2010. Planned Parenthood, using Civil Societies which are paid by the American Government, brought in Provisions under the title of “Reproductive Health”. The Provisions allow abortion on demand for whatever reason, sex as a “human right"for married couples - that is allowing a spouse to have sexual partner/s outside marriage, same-sex cohabitations elevated to the level of “marriage”, introduction of sex Education and free supply of Contraceptives to children from age 10 without the knowledge or consent of the parents; abortion to those children who will become pregnant - again without the knowledge and consent of parents, forceful sterilization of poor women who go to give birth in Hospitals and Health Clinics and euthanasia without the consent or knowledge of the family members of the old person. Already Abortion Clinics and outlets are being established country-wide with American funding through Organizations such as Marie Stopes Clinics and other American funded Civil Societies. Against very vigorous and strong opposition from the Catholic Church, these horrors are now part of our new Constitution under the “Bill of Rights”. All Provisions under this “Bill of Rights” are framed in such a way that we shall never, ever be able to amend them for the next 100 years or ever. And to ensure these Provisions were not deleted from the Draft Constitution, America Vice President, Biden, came here personally to push for their inclusion. A lot of American Dollars were spent to ensure these anti-God and anti-African Culture abominations become part of our Supreme Law. And to hear Ki-moon forcing the African Union Members to accept these Satanic culture in our Continent is a grave Insult. We must all rise up, the Catholic Church and all people of goodwill to reject these Western abberations which are being imposed upon us under the pain of denial of financial Grants or Loans. Let us become self-reliant and refuse the “Blood Money” and the neo-colonialism which is being forced upon us to destroy our Nations and corrupt the moral fabric of our Nations. We must resist this blatant attent to destry of our revered age-old Culture which respect the Dignity of the Human person from the moment of conception to natural death and which respect Marriage of a man to a woman and the Sanctity of Family as the bedrock of the stability of our Nations
we Ethiopian or all African stand with the side of Holy God. we do not want gay right. this is Genosid strategy on Africa. we need our generation and family. this UN and europe gay righ is stupid let they enjoy it.
It is ABOMINATION AND AGAINST lORD lAW. eVEN aNIMALS KNOW HOW mALE & FEMALE SEX.
Please take Tom in Lazybrook seriously. He brings up VERY serious allegations. VERY serious indeed.
Here’s chapter and verse on a more-or-less comprehensive list of things banned in the Leviticus book of the bible. A decent number of them are punishable by death.
Unless you’ve never done any of them (and 54 to 56 are particularly tricky), perhaps it’s time to lay off quoting 18:22 for a while?
1. Burning any yeast or honey in offerings to God (2:11)
2. Failing to include salt in offerings to God (2:13)
3. Eating fat (3:17)
4. Eating blood (3:17)
5. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve witnessed (5:1)
6. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve been told about (5:1)
7. Touching an unclean animal (5:2)
8. Carelessly making an oath (5:4)
9. Deceiving a neighbour about something trusted to them (6:2)
10. Finding lost property and lying about it (6:3)
11. Bringing unauthorised fire before God (10:1)
12. Letting your hair become unkempt (10:6)
13. Tearing your clothes (10:6)
14. Drinking alcohol in holy places (bit of a problem for Catholics, this ‘un) (10:9)
15. Eating an animal which doesn’t both chew cud and has a divided hoof (cf: camel, rabbit, pig) (11:4-7)
16. Touching the carcass of any of the above (problems here for rugby) (11:8)
17. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any seafood without fins or scales (11:10-12)
18. Eating – or touching the carcass of - eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. (11:13-19)
19. Eating – or touching the carcass of – flying insects with four legs, unless those legs are jointed (11:20-22)
20. Eating any animal which walks on all four and has paws (good news for cats) (11:27)
21. Eating – or touching the carcass of – the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon (11:29)
22. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any creature which crawls on many legs, or its belly (11:41-42)
23. Going to church within 33 days after giving birth to a boy (12:4)
24. Going to church within 66 days after giving birth to a girl (12:5)
25. Having sex with your mother (18:7)
26. Having sex with your father’s wife (18:8)
27. Having sex with your sister (18:9)
28. Having sex with your granddaughter (18:10)
29. Having sex with your half-sister (18:11)
30. Having sex with your biological aunt (18:12-13)
31. Having sex with your uncle’s wife (18:14)
32. Having sex with your daughter-in-law (18:15)
33. Having sex with your sister-in-law (18:16)
34. Having sex with a woman and also having sex with her daughter or granddaughter (bad news for Alan Clark) (18:17)
35. Marrying your wife’s sister while your wife still lives (18:18)
36. Having sex with a woman during her period (18:19)
37. Having sex with your neighbour’s wife (18:20)
38. Giving your children to be sacrificed to Molek (18:21)
39. Having sex with a man “as one does with a woman” (18:22)
40. Having sex with an animal (18:23)
41. Making idols or “metal gods” (19:4)
42. Reaping to the very edges of a field (19:9)
43. Picking up grapes that have fallen in your vineyard (19:10)
44. Stealing (19:11)
45. Lying (19:11)
46. Swearing falsely on God’s name (19:12)
47. Defrauding your neighbour (19:13)
48. Holding back the wages of an employee overnight (not well observed these days) (19:13)
49. Cursing the deaf or abusing the blind (19:14)
50. Perverting justice, showing partiality to either the poor or the rich (19:15)
51. Spreading slander (19:16)
52. Doing anything to endanger a neighbour’s life (19:16)
53. Seeking revenge or bearing a grudge (19:18)
54. Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19)
55. Cross-breeding animals (19:19)
56. Planting different seeds in the same field (19:19)
57. Sleeping with another man’s slave (19:20)
58. Eating fruit from a tree within four years of planting it (19:23)
59. Practising divination or seeking omens (tut, tut astrology) (19:26)
60. Trimming your beard (19:27)
61. Cutting your hair at the sides (19:27)
62. Getting tattoos (19:28)
63. Making your daughter prostitute herself (19:29)
64. Turning to mediums or spiritualists (19:31)
65. Not standing in the presence of the elderly (19:32)
66. Mistreating foreigners – “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (19:33-34)
67. Using dishonest weights and scales (19:35-36)
68. Cursing your father or mother (punishable by death) (20:9)
69. Marrying a prostitute, divorcee or widow if you are a priest (21:7,13)
70. Entering a place where there’s a dead body as a priest (21:11)
71. Slaughtering a cow/sheep and its young on the same day (22:28)
72. Working on the Sabbath (23:3)
73. Blasphemy (punishable by stoning to death) (24:14)
74. Inflicting an injury; killing someone else’s animal; killing a person must be punished in kind (24:17-22)
75. Selling land permanently (25:23)
76. Selling an Israelite as a slave (foreigners are fine) (25:42)
O QUE SERÁ QUE ELE VAI FAZER COM OS PEDÓFILOS DAS IGREJAS ? A PAPIZA JOANA FOI MESMO UMA LENDA ? O QUE É É VERDADE OU MENTIRA NA IGREJA CATOLICA ? E OS TORTURADORES DA INQUISIÇÃO ? ACHO QUE TEM GENTE PRECISANDO TRABALHAR ...ASSIM PARAM DE INVENTAR MODA….GANHAR DINHEIRO MOLE SEM ENCARAR EXPEDIENTE DÁ NISSO.
We as catholics must observe the law of God, for its not written anywhere in the bible that modernity $ civilization should be used to alter the Law of GOD to suit our needs $ desires.
Now imagine if in 1990, not the long ago, Africans told Europeans, and Americans of all religions, that there’s nothing wrong with homosexuality, and that the practice should be fully accepted. What would have been the reacation?
Now add to that African governments saying they would block exports of natural resources to any country that does not comply.
What would have been the reaction?
As a close friend of Cardinal Turkson, let me say that he is a man of great character, compassion and intellect with close ties to his “flock” as a Pastoral Minister. If the Holy Spirit guides the Conclave to him as the next Pope, he will re-energize our Church, open up dialogue with all people and make it relevant in the World again.
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