Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, a Mexican cardinal who this year retired as the Vatican's chief spokesman on health care issues, including AIDS, has given a pointed interview to a Rome magazine in which he says that homosexuals and transgendered people will not go to heaven, and he cites Saint Paul by way of backup. Photo
In the interview with the aptly named magazine Pontifex, Barragan begins by talking about abortion, saying that even the morning-after pill, as an abortifacient, is comparable to "an assassination." Each abortion, he says, "is a crime" and as such "merits punishment."
The interviewer then asks the cardinal how he views homosexuality and transgendered people. Here's my translation of his answers:
A: "Transsexuals and homosexuals will not enter into the Kingdom of God, and I do not say this, but Saint Paul does."
Q: But if a person is born homosexual?
A: "One is not born a homosexual. One becomes a homosexual. It is for various reasons, such as education, or for not developing one's own proper identity in adolescence; perhaps they are themselves not responsible, but acting against the dignity of the human body, certainly they will not enter Heaven. All that goes against nature and against the dignity of the human body offends God." Photo -Nasa - Saturn
The cardinal adds:
"Homosexuality is therefore a sin, but this does not justify any form of discrimination. God alone has the right to judge...We on earth cannot condemn, and as human beings we all have the same rights."
Barragan's citation of the Apostle refers to the first chapter of Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans, in which Paul praises the Christians there for their faith and castigates those who have rejected God. As Paul says, the "invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity" have been obvious since the dawn of creation, and anyone who does not see them is being willfully rebellious -- as is evidenced by their behavior: Read complete article - David Gibson – Politics Daily
Vatican Scapegoats Gays and Leaves Criminals Unaccountable -Human Rights Campaign - September 15, 2002
Shifting the blame: the Vatican's campaign to purge gay men from Catholic seminaries is an attempt to shift the blame for the sexual abuse scandal away from the bishops - 2006
New Catholic Sex Abuse Findings: Gay Priests Are Not the Problem – by DAVID GIBSON – Politics Daily - November 18, 2009
Benedict XVI -> PROPAGANDA -> Shifting Blame
Used Removal of Gay Priests to Cover-Up Hierarchy’s “Failure to Protect Children”
Propaganda techniques - Propagandists use a variety of propaganda techniques to influence opinions and to avoid the truth. Often these techniques rely on some element of censorship or manipulation, either omitting significant information or distorting it. Read more – Source Watch Photo
fear - "Once a government resorts to terror against its own population to get what it wants, it must keep using terror against its own population to get what it wants. A government that terrorizes its own people can never stop. If such a government ever lets the fear subside and rational thought return to the populace, that government is finished."—Michael Rivero.
glittering generalities - Glittering generalities are words that have different positive meaning for individual subjects, but are linked to highly valued concepts. When these words are used, they demand approval without thinking, simply because such an important concept is involved.
name-calling - is a form of ad hominem attack that draws a vague equivalence between a concept and a person, group or idea. By linking the person or idea being attacked to a negative symbol, the propagandist hopes that the audience will reject the person or the idea on the basis of the symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence. -
Ignorance, Arrogance, Indifference and or Propaganda - cover-up?
A sad example of Benedict XVI's cardinals - Ignorance, arrogance and indifference helping to lead the Christians. Cardinal Barragan's willful ignorance of all the major medical, psychiatric, psychological and social workers national and international professional associations regarding human sexuality is appalling. One supposes he thinks, if he says the earth is flat and stationary that therefore it must be so. Not only does Benedict XVI and his hierarchy think and act like they are above civil law they also believe and act as if they are above the laws of nature. One wonders how did he ever get to be a cardinal. It is obvious that he was not elected by any huge majority of the people. Clearly indicating critical defects in the process of electing bishops and cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church that has proven to be globally detrimental to the well-being of children harming them for life. His presence alone should send up red flags of the degree of corruption related to Benedict XVI and his hierarchy, time for a major reform. They are no longer in the Catholic Church, because of their obstinate refusal to deal with truth, avoiding and distorting truth, censoring, silencing or attacking public reputations of those not in agreement, to influence world opinions.
Barragan along with Benedict XVI would have both condemned Galileo, as a heretic, because the bible states repeatly that the earth does not move and so it must be the sun that revolves around the earth. Barragan is a clear example of what Pope John Paul II emphatically warned us not to do and that is not to ever separate science from religion. Barragan's rebellious ignorance is convicting evidence of the irresponsible leadership in the Roman Catholic Church. He is a danger to adults and children. He will find this out when he meets Chirst at the Last Judgment that he himself will not be allowed into heaven for the harm he caused to children and adults, for making such unsubstantiated statements about homosexuality. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked Luke 12:47-49." Barragan is not a scripture scholar or a scientist and it is painfully obvious that he does not read. History will not judge this era in the Vatican with Benedict XVI kindly. It will likely be labeled the return to the Dark Ages, a spiral downward to ignorance and corruption. When Benedict XVI became pope he not only wrongly removed all the gay priests (causing serious harm to their reputations and that of the entire LGBT community world wide) to cover-up for his hierarchy's failure to protect children, but he also removed all the scientists from the committees in the Vatican, who were put there by Pope John Paul II. MSK
Important note: I mean no disrespect to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children. Kids are being hurt!!!
Scripture
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Matthew 6: 22-23
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Matthew 7:3-5
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees [RC hierarchy] [Barragan], you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Matthew 23:13
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees [RC hierarchy] [Barragan], you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:27-28
Related links:
Gays And Transsexuals Can't Enter Heaven: Cardinal – The New York Times/International Herald Tribune
Report: Sexual orientation not a factor in priest sex abuse -Philadelphia Gay News - Jen Colletta
Child Protection Service of the Archdiocese of Dublin, November 2009 -Report by Commission of Investigation into the handling by Church and State authorities of allegations and suspicions of child abuse against clerics of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. Read complete report->Report by Commission of Investigation into Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin
Murphy report is only the beginning – The Sunday Times – Times Online, November 29, 2009
Murphy Report: Background And Composition – by PATSY MCGARRY AND CAROL COULTER – The Irish Times – November 27, 2009
Pope 'led cover-up of child abuse by priests' – London Evening Standard – standard.co.uk
Irish Church accused of abuse cover-up – BBC News, 26 November 2009
Open letter to nuncio calls on pope to remove bishops – by GENEVIEVE CARBERY - The Irish Times
US Catholic Bishops threaten the moral 'fabric of society' and the sanctity Gay unions – 2009
Nazi and East German Propaganda Guide Page Read more
What is Propaganda? Today, the word sounds ominous, conjuring up images of falsehood and manipulation, brainwashing and servility. It stands as the antithesis of objectivity, rationality, and truthfulness. But what is propaganda? Learn more
Incitement to Genocide When is violent language a crime? Learn more
Scholars, journalists, and politicians have long argued about how to properly define propaganda and distinguish it from other forms of mass communication. Propaganda is biased information designed to shape public opinion and behavior.
Modern propaganda draws upon techniques and strategies used in advertising, public relations, communications, and mass psychology. It simplifies complicated issues or ideology for popular consumption, is always biased, and is geared to achieving a particular end. Propaganda generally employs symbols, whether in written, musical, or visual forms, and plays upon and channels complex human emotions towards a desired goal. It is often employed by governmental and private organizations to promote their causes and institutions and denigrate their opponents. Propaganda functions as just one weapon in the arsenal of mass persuasion.
In contrast to the ideal of an educator, who aims to foster independent judgment and thinking, the practitioner of propaganda does not aim to encourage deliberation by presenting a variety of viewpoints and leaving it up to the audience to determine which perspective is correct. The propagandist transmits only information geared to strengthen his or her case, and consciously omits detrimental information.
Not all propaganda is bad. Propaganda is used to shape opinion and behavior. Public health campaigns, for example, can utilize propaganda. Elections, even in democratic states, often display elements of propaganda, as candidates and political parties vie for office. The real danger of propaganda lies when competing voices are silenced –and unchecked, propaganda can have negative consequences. Read complete article - What is Propaganda? - UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM
To protect the sanctity of Marriage Equality and LGBTIQ human and civil rights around the world, we need knowledgeable LGBTQI people, professionals, researchers, and scripture scholars regarding human sexuality not to allow any such statements like Cardinal Barragan's go unchallenged. Not by any name calling, a mean word or stooping to a lower level, but strictly by challenging the inaccuracies of the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy with the plain honest facts of human sexuality and offering possible links where people can learn more on their own. It is important to show that all the facts about human sexuality are documented. This alone will show the difference between substantiated and unsubstantiated facts. Social psychology has shown us that people are motivated to pay attention to facts and they are most persuaded to change their attitudes by presented facts that are logically sound.
If all that Catholic and Christians in general hear are these blatant inaccuracies about human sexuality from church leaders, they have little to nothing to help them see and understand the broader accurate picture of reality. Again, we must remember that around 90% of the human population has some degree a homosexual orientation. When we are thinking of LGBTQI people from research we know that this group is much larger than the general population are afraid to admit.
From my personal experience “coming out” to a Roman Catholic parish as a gay priest I found that the people almost become calmer instantly when they are given the honest facts about human sexuality. I truly believe to achieve Marriage Equality and LGBTQI Human and Civil Rights Globally is by Education. To achieve any lasting attitudinal change only comes through education.
