The Pope obviously values power more than love and compassion.


Pope Admonishes Italian Politicians On Gay Unions
by Malcolm Thornberry, 365Gay.com European Bureau Chief
Posted: January 12, 2006 - 1:00 pm ET

(Vatican City) Pope Benedict warned Italian politicians on Thursday that the Catholic Church will use all of its power to thwart any move to legalize same-sex union.

Italy goes to the polls in April in an election the pits the center-left coalition against the ruling conservatives.

Romano Prodi's centrist coalition, simply called The Union, has said it would legalize civil partnerships, similar to those in Britain and other parts of the European Union, if elected. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's right of center party coalition is against any recognition of same-sex couples.

Speaking to politicians from Rome area the Pope said that marriage was not a "casual, sociological entity" but "a question of the correct relationship between a man and a woman."
The pontiff warned the politicians for a wide variety of parties that marriage is "not a peculiarity of Catholic moral teaching but part of an elementary truth regarding our common humanity."

The speech was immediately denounced by Italian gays as an intrusion in Italian politics.
"The Pope is interfering heavily in Italian politics and behaving like the leader of a political party," Franco Grillini, a leftist parliamentarian who is gay told reporters at the Vatican.
Prodi has been a supporter of moderate rights for same-sex couples since July when he met with gay activists, but he opposes gay marriage. (story)

The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are the only EU countries to allow same-sex marriage. Britain, the Nordic countries, Germany and France all have varying forms of civil unions or domestic partner laws.

©365Gay.com 2006

Liberals Seize On Anti-Gay Tory Remarks
by Martin O'Hanlon, Canadian Press
Posted: January 10, 2006 - 9:00 pm ET

(Ottawa) A Conservative candidate who actually believes Adam and Eve were sharing forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden 6,000 years ago is being criticized for controversial remarks about gay marriage.

The federal Liberals say comments by Rondo Thomas, who hopes to represent the Toronto-area riding of Ajax-Pickering, at a protest last February demonstrate "intolerant views about same-sex relationships and homosexuality."

The Liberals, desperate to reverse a Conservative surge in the polls by playing on voter doubts about Tory tolerance, released a video Tuesday showing Thomas speaking to supporters about the looming battle over same-sex marriage.

"There is going to be a clash of morality views between those who believe in righteousness and those who believe in immorality and when we collide there is going to be conflict," Thomas says.

"It doesn't matter what the media says, it doesn't matter what the government says - the facts don't count. We are going to win this conflict."

Despite the tough talk, a bill to legalize gay marriage passed the House of Commons in June, supported by a vast majority of MPs from all parties except the Conservatives.
Tory Leader Stephen Harper has said he would allow a free vote in the Commons on banning gay marriage.

Thomas, a pastor at the Toronto Christian Centre, also argues in the video that the definition of marriage can't be changed because it "has been in place since Adam and Eve - that's about 6,000 years ago for those that might not be aware."

The Tories and their Alliance and Reform predecessors have been stung many times by allegations of intolerance involving MPs and candidates, along with concerns about fundamentalist Christian social values.

During the 2000 election campaign, then-Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day was ridiculed for acknowledging he believed the world was 6,000 years old and that men walked with dinosaurs.

Science says Earth is more than four billion years old and that dinosaurs became extinct tens of millions of years before the first humans appeared.

The Conservatives, eager to win over moderate voters, have run a smooth, disciplined campaign this time around and the strategy appears to be working.

The party has vaulted ahead of the Liberals in the last week, with polls suggesting they led by up to 12 percentage points.

A man who answered the phone at Thomas's campaign office on Tuesday said the candidate wasn't available because he was dealing with "personal family problems."

The riding of Ajax-Pickering is currently held by Liberal Mark Holland who won by a commanding 7,000 votes out of 43,000 cast in the 2004 election.

©365Gay.com 2006

Zora Neale Hurston said, "Love, I find, is like singing. Everybody can do enough to satisfy themselves, though it may not impress the neighbors as being very much."