Encíclica do Papa Francisco sobre a Fé

A Luz da Fé

Galli Della Loggia, historiador ex-comunista, denuncia la «revolución anticristiana» en Europa hoy

In RL  

“Una gran revolución se acerca en silencio a su fin en Europa. Una revolución de la mentalidad y de las costumbres colectivas que marca una gran ruptura con el pasado: la revolución anti-religiosa. Una revolución que golpea indiscriminadamente al hecho religioso en sí de cualquier confesión, pero que por razones históricas, y en concreto hablando de Europa, se presenta como una revolución esencialmente anticristiana”.

Así comienza un artículo escrito en la primera página de Il Corriere della Sera por Ernesto Galli della Loggia, intelectual laico italiano no conocido precisamente por sus posiciones conservadoras.

Por su interés y actualidad, ReL recoge en este reportaje las principales partes de este artículo de opinión.

Galli della Loggia es uno de los muchos intelectuales laicos italianos que se ha desvinculado del coro de acusaciones contra la Iglesia “oscurantista” que asola hoy en día el continente.

“Las iglesias cristianas no sólo han sido expulsadas progresivamente en casi todas partes de cualquier esfera pública mínimamente relevante, [...] sino que, a diferencia de las demás religiones, en la actualidad es legítimo dirigir las ofensas más graves y los insultos más sangrientos contra el cristianismo”, se lamenta.

El historiador y periodista hace un variado elenco de las diferentes ofensas que la religión cristiana está recibiendo en Europa:  

» En Irlanda, las iglesias están obligadas a alquilar sus propias salas de celebraciones, incluso para bodas entre homosexuales;

» en Roma, durante el concierto del 1 de Mayo, el cantante imitó el gesto de la consagración durante la Eucaristía pero con un preservativo entre sus manos en lugar de la hostia sagrada;

» en Dinamarca, el Parlamento ha aprobado una ley que exige a la Iglesia Evangélica Luterana  celebrar matrimonios entre personas del mismo sexo a pesar de que una tercera parte de sus ministros se hayan manifestado en contra;

» en Escocia dos obsétricas católicas fueron obligadas por un tribunal a participar en abortos realizado por sus compañeros; el colegio oficial de médicos británicos ha determinado que deben estar preparados para dejar de lado sus creencias personales con respecto a algunos aspectos controvertidos;

» en un vídeo reciente de David Bowie, aparece una escena en la que un sacerdote, después de golpear a un mendigo, entra en un burdel y seduce a una monja con estigmas en sus manos; en Inglaterra, se le ha prohibido a una enfermera llevar una cruz en el cuello durante horas de trabajo,

» una pequeña imprenta ha tenido que enfrentarse a acciones legales por negarse a imprimir material sexualmente explícito encargado por una revista gay; en Francia, de acuerdo con la legislación vigente, es prácticamente imposible para los cristianos manifestar públicamente que las relaciones sexuales entre personas del mismo sexo constituye un pecado según su religión”.

Y así sucesivamente en una avalancha de casos impresionantes que se pueden consultar en el sitio web intoleranceagainstchristians.eu.

Galli della Loggia es leído siempre con atención en El Vaticano, dicen. Su esposa es Lucetta Scaraffia, historiadora, y escribe a menudo en L´Osservatore Romano. Mantiene una estrecha amistad con su director, Giovanni Maria Vian.

Precisamente de este periódico, entre otros, ha extraído los numerosos ejemplos de discriminación comentados anteriormente. “Es más que suficiente para despertar el interés de cualquier conciencia liberal”, afirma Galli della Loggia.

“En este caso no se trata tanto de la Cristiandad, la Iglesia o la religión, sino de algo mucho más importante: se trata de la libertad. Y de la historia. De la conciencia de que libertad religiosa en Europa ha representado históricamente el origen (y condición) de todas las libertades civiles y políticas”, advierte el historiador.

“Ser absolutamente libre de adorar al propio Dios, de propagar la fe, de guardar los mandamientos, de adherirse a la visión del mundo y al sentido de la existencia que estos definen, de practicar públicamente el culto; pero también, por supuesto, de tener la libertad de no tener Dios ni religión: así se ha comenzado el camino de la libertad Europa. ¿Hay que recordar que ha sido el Dios cristiano?”.

Por último, el periodista e historiador concluye: “La libertad religiosa por un lado y la libertad de opinión y de expresión por otro –que son los dos pilares de la libertad política- van al unísono. Desde este punto de vista, es aún más preocupante el hecho de que hoy en día, en Europa, en muchos lugares y de muchas maneras, la libertad de los cristianos parezca objetivamente en peligro de extinción”.
Puede consultar el artículo completo en Il Corriere della Sera aquí.

L' Europa diventa meno religiosa, meno cristiana e meno cattolica - di Massimo Introvigne

Il 28 giugno 2013 il più autorevole centro di statistica religiosa del mondo, il Center for the Study of Global Christianity di South Hamilton (Massachusetts), diretto da Todd M. Johnson, ha pubblicato il suo atteso rapporto «Christianity in its Global Context, 1970-2020» (Il cristianesimo nel suo contesto globale, 1970-2020), che offre tutta una serie di statistiche aggiornate al 2013 e una proiezione fino al 2020. 

Il risultato essenziale di questa vasta inchiesta può essere riassunto in una frase: il mondo sta diventando non meno, ma più religioso, e in particolare il numero dei cristiani e dei cattolici sta aumentando, ma questo aumento dipende dall'Africa e dall'Asia, mentre le Americhe rimangono stabili e l'Europa diventa meno religiosa, meno cristiana e meno cattolica. Il rapporto osserva giustamente che l'elezione di un Papa argentino è un simbolo eloquente di questo spostamento epocale del centro della vita religiosa e cristiana lontano dall'Europa.

Le persone che si dichiarano religiose nel mondo sono aumentate dall'82% nel 1970 all'88% del 2013 e sfioreranno il 90% nel 2020. Questo aumento è dovuto alla caduta dell'impero sovietico, alla perdita di credibilità del comunismo e all'avanzata della religione in Cina, che il regime non riesce a fermare. Ma - com'è stato rilevato al congresso annuale del CESNUR (Centrp Studi sulle Nuove Religioni) che si è tenuto dal 21 al 24 giugno 2013 a Falun, in Svezia - dipende anche da un fattore demografico. Le persone religiose fanno più figli, sia nel Sud del mondo sia in Europa e nel Nord America, il che a gioco lungo conterrà le perdite anche in queste regioni. Questo spiega anche perché le forme più «liberal» o progressiste di religione siano destinate a pesare di meno in futuro: possono anche vincere la guerra dei media, ma perdono ogni giorno la guerra più importante, quella del numero dei figli e delle culle.

Il mondo diventa anche più cristiano, e nello stesso tempo più musulmano. Nel 1970 cristiani e musulmani insieme rappresentavano il 48% della popolazione mondiale, nel 2020 saranno il 57,2%. I cristiani saliranno nel 2020 al 33,3% e i musulmani al 23,9%. Un abitante del pianeta su tre sarà cristiano e quasi uno su quattro musulmano. Ma nel 1970 solo il 41,3% dei cristiani vivevano nel Sud del mondo - Asia, Africa e America Latina - mentre nel 2020 saranno il 64,7%. In Africa, dove già da qualche anno sono maggioranza relativa superando i musulmani, i cristiani nel 2020 sfioreranno il 50% e la maggioranza assoluta. In Asia e in Africa il cristianesimo cresce a un ritmo doppio rispetto alla crescita della popolazione in generale, e questo vale anche per la Chiesa Cattolica, che in America Latina - contrariamente a un mito diffuso - è invece in lieve declino, a causa della crescita non solo del protestantesimo ma anche del numero di persone che non frequentano alcuna chiesa.

Queste ultime sono già maggioranza in Europa Occidentale e nel 2020 saranno i due terzi della popolazione, anche se l'Italia rimane e verosimilmente rimarrà fra i grandi Paesi europei quello dove la più alta percentuale di persone si dice cristiana nelle indagini demoscopiche - l'ottanta per cento -, per quanto queste affermazioni non si traducano poi in un contatto regolare, e spesso neppure irregolare, con le istituzioni religiose. Gli Stati Uniti rimangono il primo Paese del mondo per numero di persone che si dichiarano cristiane, anche se questo è sceso dal 90,9% del 1970 all'80,1% attuale e si prevede che scenda al 78,1% nel 2020. Gli USA saranno nel 2020 il solo Paese «occidentale» fra i primi dieci per numero di cristiani, una lista che nel 1970 comprendeva Italia e Spagna e che ora invece, dopo gli Stati Uniti, elenca Brasile, Cina, Messico, Russia, Filippine, Nigeria, Congo, India ed Etiopia.

Nel 2020 su due miliardi e mezzo di cristiani oltre settecento milioni, cioè più di un quarto, saranno pentecostali e carismatici - compresi i carismatici cattolici - e curiosamente il Paese con la più alta percentuale di pentecostali e carismatici sul totale della popolazione (23%) sarà il Congo. Per ragioni di zelo missionario, ma anche come si è accennato di demografia, il segmento «evangelical», cioè conservatore, del protestantesimo cresce a un ritmo doppio rispetto al totale della popolazione mondiale, mentre il protestantesimo storico «progressista» continua a perdere membri con in declino che appare ormai irreversibile e mondiale.

Questi dati offrono un quadro contro-intuitivo rispetto al martellamento mediatico sulla secolarizzazione e il declino della religione, che scambia l'Europa Occidentale per il mondo. Ci dicono anche che la religione, come molte altre realtà sociali, è strettamente correlata alla demografia. Le religioni avanzano, e le forme più conservatrici di religione sopravanzano quelle progressiste, per una serie complessa di motivi tra cui non si può però trascurare il dato secondo cui più una coppia è religiosa e conservatrice, più tende a fare figli. Le grandi agenzie e i poteri forti che promuovono l'irreligiosità e il secolarismo conoscono perfettamente queste statistiche. È per questo che - facendo battere la grancassa anche dalla cultura popolare con romanzi come «Inferno» di Dan Brown - insistono tanto sulle politiche antinataliste. Perché sanno che - nonostante tutte le loro considerazioni trionfalistiche sulla secolarizzazione obbligatoriamente vincente - c'è per loro una bomba a orologeria che ha già cominciato a ticchettare. Su dieci bambini che nascono nel mondo, nove nascono in famiglie che si dichiarano religiose, e sei nascono in un contesto che o è cristiano conservatore o è musulmano. Mentre i «progressisti» e i fan del secolarismo fanno sempre meno figli.

The Supreme Court’s Misuse of Children to Justify Same-Sex Marriage - by Robert R. Reilly

In Crisis

Of all the misconceived nonsense in the recent Windsor v. United States ruling, perhaps the most egregious was Justice Anthony Kennedy’s insinuation that “the children made me do it.” Windsor declared the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional because it defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. Why was DOMA a problem for children? Justice Kennedy said that by denying same-sex couples legitimacy, DOMA “humiliates tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples.” The Act “makes it even more difficult for the children to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives.” Thus Justice Kennedy portrays himself as riding to the children’s rescue.

This strategy is reminiscent of President Barack Obama’s misuse of the military to justify same-sex “marriage.” First, he forced the repeal of “don’t ask don’t tell” on the reluctant military, and then used that very same military as the excuse for endorsing homosexual “marriage,” as if it were the military asking for it. Those poor Marines in the foxholes of Afghanistan were just aching to marry each other, and Obama comes to their rescue. He shamelessly proclaimed: “When I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that “don’t ask don’t tell” is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”

This was completely risible, but one has to admire the audacity of his sophistical argument, as we do Justice Kennedy’s similar one. His goes like this: First, allow same-sex couples to adopt children, but then do not blame the humiliation of the children on the situation into which they have been placed, through no fault of their own, but upon the people who objected to it in the first place. Do not fault those who created the problem through the fabrication of faux “marriage”; fault those who warned that the fabrication of faux “marriage,” along with attendant adoptions, would create this problem. First, exploit children by placing them in this situation, and then exploit them again in order to justify it. Voilà! A fully formed faux family.

If children had their rights, there would be no such “families” in which to place them. The magnitude of the injustice involved in the redefinition of marriage comes most clearly into view in regard to children, to whom justice is also owed. As Professor Seana Sugrue writes, “the ability of same-sex couples to be parents depends crucially upon the state declaring that they possess such rights, and by extinguishing or redefining the rights of biological parents. With the rise of same-sex marriage, the obligations parents owed to their biological children are reduced to mere convention. This is true for everyone. Parents come to owe obligations to their children not because they are parents, but because they choose to be parents.” What is owed to children by right becomes optional by convention. This is a staggering loss for them.

The adoption of children by same-sex couples is, of course, an extension of the rationalization of their sexual misbehavior, no matter how motivated it may be by accompanying eleemosynary motives. Children are the fruit of a mother and a father, ideally in matrimony as husband and wife. If same-sex couples, too, can have children, this must mean that they, also, have “real” marriages. The possession of the child by the same-sex couple completes the rationalization for them. Just as most active homosexuals practice faux intercourse, they can have faux progeny from it. They can pretend that this is so, and they can insist that society pretend along with them. In fact, Justice Kennedy just issued the order that we all must share in the rationalization. What is worse, same-sex couples will make the children pretend, too. They will be indoctrinated to participate in the lie, now reinforced by the Supreme Court. And therein lays a good deal of the harm that same-sex couples will bring to them, despite the love and affection they may provide. As one mother explained to me, “Most kids understand intuitively the idea that everything has a purpose. How does one explain to them that the purpose is ignored by adults? The children are caught in that web of deceit.”

This makes complete nonsense of Justice Kennedy’s bizarre remark about how “difficult [it is] for the children to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family” if the same-sex “family” is not accorded full legitimacy. It is difficult for the children to understand, not because of any animus or lack of respect from others, but because that “integrity and closeness” is compromised by the very nature of same-sex relationships. Same-sex “families” with children are broken by definition because in no instance will both parents be present. Therefore, they naturally do not possess the integrity of which Justice Kennedy spoke. Such “families” are made to be broken, or rather broken to be made, by design. This is especially so in the cases in which a child is bred—with the outside assistance of a person of the other gender—to be placed with the same-sex couple, only one of whom is, or could be, the parent of the child. This is a grotesque act of injustice to the children who are misused in this way and for this purpose. They are deliberately denied the possibility of being with both parents. They are made rootless, or rather made to be rootless in the essential aspect of the missing parent—an intentionally truncated genealogy. Indeed, they are willfully wrenched out of the chain of being.

They can feel this acutely. Robert Oscar Lopez, a bisexual man raised by a lesbian couple, stated that, “children deeply feel the loss of a father or mother, no matter how much we love our gay parents or how much they love us. Children feel the loss keenly because they are powerless to stop the decision to deprive them of a father or mother, and the absence of a male or female parent will likely be irreversible for them.” Elsewhere, Lopez added that, “Conferring marriage on same-sex couples means some children will never be able to invoke the words ‘father’ and ‘mother’ in order to describe the household that their parents are now allowed to describe as a ‘marriage.’ In order to grant validation and prestige to mom and mom or dad and dad, the kids lose access to the value of celebrating a maternal and paternal line of ancestry. Come Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, they will not be equal to their peers, due directly to the fact that their same-sex guardians fought so hard to be equal to their peers’ parents.” In light of this, who is really responsible for any lack of “concord with other families in their community” that same sex families may experience?

For all of Justice Kennedy’s fulminations about the absolute equivalency of heterosexual and homosexual parenting, the children raised by two males or two females could never have that instinctive sense about the beginnings of their existence in the love of their parents—for the obvious reason that they could not originate in the relationship between two males or two females. If you are supposed to be the incarnation of the love between two people, but at least one of those people is missing, of what then are you the product? Can that incarnational love be replaced, or are your origins compromised? When my children were younger, they used to think that, if my wife and I removed our wedding rings, they would disappear. We never told them that. Yet they instinctively understood that their very existence depended upon the love between my wife and me. They sensed that they were incarnations of this love, and they therefore concluded that if it were broken they would disappear.

Do the children of same-sex couples feel the loss of this incarnational love, or the tenuousness that its absence imparts to their own existence? Here is Lopez’s bitter reflection: “It’s disturbingly classist and elitist for gay men to think they can love their children unreservedly after treating their surrogate mother like an incubator, or for lesbians to think they can love their children unconditionally after treating their sperm-donor father like a tube of toothpaste.”

Unconditional love, morally at least, was supposed to be there between the spouses as a condition for the creation of a new person. If it was not there (and it cannot be if one spouse is deliberately missing), how can the child be its incarnation? Is the child the result of one person and a petri dish? This terrible dilemma will leave these children with the lifelong quest for their real origins, or suffering from their being unable to discover them and wondering why at least one of their real parents did not want them. Even the laudable love of adoptive parents cannot overcome this profound instinctual problem.

There is also ample human testimony from others who have endured same-sex upbringing concerning its dysfunctional character and the price they have paid for it. Here is a cri de coeur from Jean-Dominique Bunel, a 67-year-old French man, who was raised by two women. He lamented that, “I also suffered from the lack of a father, a daily presence, a character and properly masculine behavior, and an otherness in relation to my mother and her partner. I realized this very early. I experienced this lack of a father as an amputation.” As a result, he advises, regarding homosexuals, “… give them as much as possible the same rights as heterosexuals but this equality obviously cannot apply to a ‘right to the child,’ which exists nowhere and is not found in any text.” Referring to the same sex marriage bill in France [which has since passed], Bunel said, “… this measure necessarily opens adoption, thus institutionalizing a state that had so disturbed me. There is an injustice that I cannot stand.” He concluded, “If the two women who raised me were married after the adoption of such a bill, I’d continue in this fight that I have filed a complaint against the French government to the European Court of Human Rights for violating my right to have a father and a mother.”

Fortunately for Monsieur Brunel, his case would not appear before Justice Kennedy, who would inform him that the humiliation and injustice he suffered was not inherent to the situation in which he was unfairly placed, but was the result of France’s tardy recognition of same-sex “marriage.” There is a French phrase for Justice Kennedy’s behavior—trahison des clercs. He has earned it, especially in respect to his misuse of children to justify injustice.

Loi de refondation de l’école : comment le "gender" sera introduit dans les programmes - par Elizabeth Montfort

In Libertépolitique

Le projet de loi d'orientation et de programmation pour la refondation de l'école de la République a été adopté mardi 25 juin en deuxième lecture au Sénat. Discrètement, puisque c’est le texte même de l’Assemblée nationale qui a été repris sans modification.

Les Français retiendront la création de 60 000 postes supplémentaires d’enseignants. Mais l’essentiel n’est pas là. Pour mieux saisir l’esprit de la loi, il faut se souvenir des déclarations du ministre de l’Éducation nationale, car pour lui, l’école est bien le lieu de son action politique :

« C’est au socialisme qu’il va revenir d’incarner la révolution religieuse dont l’humanité a besoin (La Révolution française n’est pas terminée, Seuil, 2008, p. 195.)
« C’est bien une nouvelle naissance, une transusbtantiation qui opère dans l’école et par l’école, cette nouvelle Église, avec son nouveau clergé, sa nouvelle liturgie, ses nouvelles tables de la Loi (op.cit. p. 18).
Et Présentant son projet de morale laïque :
« Il faut être capable d’arracher l’élève à tous les déterminismes, familial, ethnique, social, intellectuel… » (Journal du Dimanche, 2 septembre 2012).

Au nom de la lutte contre l’homophobie

Enfin, la lettre du ministre adressée aux recteurs d’Académie, le 4 janvier 2013, est particulièrement explicite :

« Le gouvernement s'est engagé à s'appuyer sur la jeunesse pour changer les mentalités, notamment par le biais d'une éducation au respect de la diversité des orientations sexuelles. L'engagement de notre ministère dans l'éducation à l'égalité et au respect de la personne est essentiel et prend aujourd'hui un relief particulier. Il vous appartient en effet de veiller à ce que les débats qui traversent la société française ne se traduisent pas, dans les écoles et les établissements, par des phénomènes de rejet et de stigmatisation homophobes.
J'attire à ce titre votre attention sur la mise en œuvre du Programme d'actions gouvernemental contre les violences et les discriminations commises à raison de l'orientation sexuelle ou de l'identité de genre. »

La référence LGBT

Ce programme rédigé avec des associations militantes comme l’Inter-LGBT et présenté le 31 octobre 2012 servira de référence à tous les autres programmes du ministère : éducation à l’égalité fille/garçon, lutte contre les stéréotypes et contre l’homophobie.

Ainsi, « l'apprentissage de l'égalité entre les garçons et les filles est une condition nécessaire pour que, progressivement, les stéréotypes s'estompent et d'autres modèles de comportement se construisent ».

Dans ce but, l’ABCD-Égalité sera expérimenté dans dix académies en septembre prochain, avant de s’étendre à toute la France en septembre 2014. Ce programme s’adresse à l’ensemble des élèves de la grande section de maternelle au CM2 et à leurs enseignants et vise à déconstruire des stéréotypes de genre.
 
 Alors que l’amendement sur l’égalité de genre (« L’école crée les conditions d’éducation à l’égalité de genre ») a été retiré à la demande du ministre, la diffusion du gender se fera par ces trois leviers : égalité, stéréotypes et homophobie.

 L’objectif est d’atteindre l’égalité par l’indifférenciation des fonctions et l’indifférenciation des sexes. C’est bien le cœur de l’idéologie du genre.

Éducation ou propagande ?

À ces programmes, s’ajoute l'éducation à la sexualité : « Les trois séances d’éducation à la sexualité prévues par les textes auront lieu dans toutes les écoles et tous les établissements. Elles traiteront tant des questions d’ordre biologique que des dimensions psychologiques, sociales, éthiques et culturelles de la sexualité », en lien avec les associations LGBT ou SOS-Homophobie.

Enfin, le ministre conseille le recours à la Ligne Azur, « ligne d’écoute pour les jeunes en questionnement à l’égard de leur orientation sexuelle ». Cette même ligne Azur qui a laissé sur son site quelques semaines la brochure Tomber la culotte, véritable outil de propagande du lesbianisme et du sadomasochisme.

Rien n’est dit sur la place des parents, premiers éducateurs de leurs enfants. Rien n’est dit sur la perspective du don dans la sexualité. Si bien qu’on est en droit de se demander s’il s’agit bien d’une « éducation » ou d’une « propagande ».

Voilà ce qui nous attend pour la rentrée prochaine.

Elizabeth Montfort est ancien député au Parlement européen, président du Nouveau Féminisme européen
avec Nicole Thomas-Mauro, ancien député européen

Pour en savoir plus :

 
http://www.nouveaufeminisme.eu/

Le concept de genre dans nos sociétés occidentales

Ignoring human nature harms marriage, says cardinal

Rome, Italy, Jul 1, 2013 / 03:42 pm (CNA).- After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, an Italian cardinal said that recognizing gay unions as “marriages” ignores nature and may yield effects that cannot be entirely anticipated.

“The fundamental structures of our existence would be overturned, with the destructive effects that we can imagine, but not entirely foresee,” Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general emeritus of the Diocese of Rome, said in a June 28 interview with Italian daily Il Foglio.

“We think, in concrete terms, of what can be a family in which there is no longer a father, a mother, and children who have a father and a mother,” he added in the interview, which was noted by Vatican analyst Sandro Magister of L'Espresso July 1.

Two days before the interview, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, and that the federal government must recognize same-sex “marriages” if they are accepted by individual states. This means that “married” gay couples are entitled to the same federal benefits as married straight couples.

Cardinal Ruini said that same-sex “marriage” is an effect of a misunderstanding – even a rejection – of human nature.

In fact, reality is a given, which cannot be changed and is not a construction of society, he explained.

“One very important aspect of our being is that we are structured according to the sexual difference, of man and woman…it is a primordial and evident difference, which precedes our personal decisions, our culture and the education we have received.”

This reality has led humanity “since its origin,” to understand marriage “as a bond possible only between a man and a woman,” he said.

The basis for “gay marriage,” the cardinal explained, is the view that sex is a choice of the individual, and not a given characteristic that is received at conception.

“But,” he said, “this is an illusion, even if it is shared by many.”

“Our freedom, in fact, is rooted in the reality of our being, and when it is violated it becomes destructive, of ourselves first of all.”

Cardinal Ruini emphasized that equality is a good which is to be valued, “understood as equal dignity among all human beings.”

However, when it is understood “as the negation of every difference and therefore as the presumption to treat different situations in the same way, equality is simply something that goes against reality,” he said.

While acknowledging that Western nations are rushing to accept and promote “gay marriage,” he said that ultimately “the future belongs to those who are able to recognize and accept the human being in his authentic reality.”

“The illusions, instead, sooner or later collapse, often after having done great damage.”

Recognizing that governments cannot command or prohibit whom one loves, the cardinal also said that governments “can and must…seek to regulate in the way most useful and most in keeping with reality the behaviors that are born from love but have a public significance.”

He rejected the idea of civil unions as a compromise between supporters and opponents of same-sex “marriage,” saying society can in no way healthfully “banish nature with a personal or collective decision of our own.”

Civil unions would not “satisfy the demand for absolute freedom and equality that is at the basis of the claim of homosexual marriage,” he stated.

Furthermore, Cardinal Ruini suggested, civil unions are harmful to societies because they would further dissolve the already damaged institution of marriage, as well as useless because all of the rights they would afford “can very well be protected…by recognizing them as rights of persons, and not of couples.”

In light of the rush to accept gay marriage in the U.S. and Europe, the Italian cardinal said the Church “cannot help” but uphold reality and the nature of man.

On that basis, Catholics are called to witness to truth and live their faith in the public square.

He urged that Catholics “must become more aware of the cultural and social significance of their faith.”

“When this awareness becomes weak, the faith becomes insipid and has little impact not only in the public sphere, but also in the capacity to draw persons and lead them to Christ,” he reflected.

Alcalde prefiere cárcel antes que celebrar la “farsa” del matrimonio gay

PARÍS, 02 Jul. 13 / 01:17 am (ACI/EWTN Noticias).- Jean-Michel Colo, alcalde del pequeño municipio francés de Arcangues, expresó su decisión de no casar a una pareja de homosexuales de acuerdo a la ley aprobada por el Gobierno de Francois Hollande, y señaló estar dispuesto a ir a la cárcel antes que celebrar una “farsa”.
“No doy lecciones, no estoy incitando a otros alcaldes que sigan mi ejemplo, pero no voy a ejecutar una ley ilegítima”, declaró Colo. “Mis siete concejales y yo estamos completamente de acuerdo en decir que no participaremos en esta farsa”, añadió la autoridad municipal, que agradeció los miles de mensajes de apoyo ciudadano que ha recibido hasta la fecha.
Según se informó, la decisión de no casar a una pareja gay que lo ha solicitado en su jurisdicción le puede acarrear hasta cinco años de prisión y una multa de 75 mil euros (100 mil dólares), además de la suspensión de su cargo.
Como se recuerda, en abril pasado, el portavoz de la plataforma Alcaldes por la Infancia (“Maires pour l’Enfance”), Franck Meyer, aseguró que cerca de 15.000 alcaldes franceses se negarán a “celebrar matrimonios entre dos personas del mismo sexo”.
Ante esto, el gobierno socialista de Hollande ha declarado que no concederá exenciones de consciencia a los funcionarios públicos que se nieguen a casar homosexuales. “Las leyes son aplicables en todas partes y no puede haber la menor violación de igualdad”, advirtió el ministro del interior Manuel Valls en respuesta a la resistencia de Colo.
Los homosexuales Jean-Michel Martin y Guy Martineau-Espel, a los que Colo se negó casar, presentaron el 26 de junio una denuncia contra el alcalde ante el procurador de la República de la localidad de Bayona.

Ilusão voluntária - por João César das Neves

In DN

O povo gosta que lhe mintam. Agora tem um Governo que diz a verdade e considera-o o pior de sempre, muito inferior aos anteriores, que nos convenceram de todas aquelas aldrabices que geraram a crise. Uma conclusão plausível do paradoxo é que o povo quer que o enganem.

Se este Governo diz a verdade não é por ser melhor. A situação é que é pior. Portugal bateu na parede e chegou a um estado em que as alternativas boas não existem e a conjuntura impede ilusões. Por isso, relutantemente, os ministros estão a dar más notícias, revelar o desastre, impor sacrifícios inevitáveis. Agora já não é possível aos responsáveis ocultar a realidade e vender fantasias. Mas o povo não quer isso.

Houve tempos em que o povo gostava de saber a verdade. Em 1974 e 1986 os portugueses estavam assustados. Nessa altura quem lhes descrevesse as dificuldades era eleito e conseguia fazer as reformas necessárias. Depois de 1992 vieram os anos da euforia a crédito. Hoje o povo está, não assustado, mas indignado. E quem sente revolta não quer que lhe digam a verdade, mas que o ajudem a descarregar os nervos. Por isso a mentira anda a prémio. Quem tiver a retórica mais bombástica e incendiária recebe aplausos, mesmo que diga rematada tolice; mesmo que agrave a situação já tão difícil.

António José Seguro sabe perfeitamente que a sua ideia de renegociar o programa de ajustamento é um mito impossível. Quando o PS for Governo ninguém, nem ele próprio, gastará um minuto a pensar nisso. Só o diz porque não pode assumir publicamente que não tem alternativa credível ao caminho que o País segue. De certa forma, o que afirma até é lisonjeiro para o Governo, admitindo implicitamente que nestas condições não se pode fazer melhor. Por isso invoca uma inverosímil mudança de circunstâncias.

Jerónimo de Sousa tem consciência plena de que a sua proposta de expulsar a troika e recusar a austeridade significaria uma desgraça nacional muito pior que a actual. Fazer o que o PCP e BE propõem seria balbúrdia e miséria. Portugal hoje só consegue financiar-se através dos fundos de emergência do FMI e UE, que vêm com as difíceis condições de ajustamento. Mas segui-las é a única forma de algum dia o País recuperar a credibilidade externa e regressar à normalidade. A razão por que esses partidos dizem essas coisas com tanta convicção e vigor, é porque sabem perfeitamente que elas nunca se verificarão, porque no fundo ninguém lhes liga. Sem quaisquer responsabilidades, podem esbracejar à vontade, servindo entretanto alguns interes-ses ameaçados pelos cortes.

Carlos Silva e Arménio Carlos percebem sem dificuldade que as greves são uma perda de tempo, nada alterando numa situação em que não há escolhas. Mas têm de apresentar serviço e fingir que existe outra política que evitaria os sacrifícios. Sempre com o cuidado de deixar omissos os contornos dessa solução milagrosa. Tal como os partidos da oposição, fazem dos protestos uma cortina fumo para esconder o facto de nunca terem dito, afinal, o que é que queriam que se fizesse, e como se pagava.

Mário Nogueira não tem ilusões que sem reformas e, em particular, sem cortar a sério no número e condição dos professores, o sistema de educação português fica arruinado. Mas o sistema de educação é a última das suas preocuações. O que ele quer é fazer mais barulho do que os outros sectores, de forma a que o Governo, para o calar, tire deles para minorar, ao menos em parte, os sacrifícios da sua classe. E já conseguiu.

A situação portuguesa é dura mas evidente. Temos uma das maiores dívidas externas do mundo. É claro que nunca a poderemos pagar, nem ninguém quer que o façamos. O que é preciso é estancar a sangria e pôr a casa em ordem, de forma a colocar a dívida em trajectória descendente, honrando os juros. Para isso surge a austeridade a que temos assistido. Senão é falência, descrédito, isolamento. A única alternativa é o caos, que vemos noutras longitudes. Esta é a verdade, nua e crua. E é bem dura. Assim, até nem admira que o povo goste que lhe mintam.

A Beatiful and profound meditation by Msgr. Charles Pope: A Prophetic Interpretation of Reality for Our Times

In AW  

Scripture is a prophetic interpretation of reality. That is, it tells us what is really going on from the perspective of the Lord of History. As an inspired text it traces out not only the current of the times, but also the trajectory, the end to which things tend. It is of course important for us to read Scripture with the Church and exercise the care the Church would have us show and, at the end of the day, to submit our understanding to the rule of faith and the context of Sacred Tradition.
 

With those parameters in mind, I would like to consider Romans 1, wherein St. Paul describes the grave condition of the Greco-Roman culture of his day. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he prophetically interpreted those times of the First Century AD. And, though the text speaks specifically to those times, it is easily evident that our current times are becoming almost identical to what St. Paul and the Holy Spirit described.

St. Paul saw a once noble culture that was in grave crisis and was in the process of being plowed under by God for its willful suppression of the truth.

Let’s take a look at the details of this prophetic interpretation of those days and apply it to our own. The text opens without any niceties, and words reach us almost like lead pellets.

I. The Root of the Ruin - The text says, The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

As the curtain draws back, we not eased into the scene at all. We are confronted at once with the glaring lights of judgment and the woeful word: “wrath.” And note that the wrath of God is called here a revelation. That is to say it is a word of truth that revels, and prophetically interprets reality for us. The wrath is the revelation!

Quite astonishing really and directly contrary to our modern tendency to see God only as the “affirmer in chief;” whose love for us in understood only in sentimental terms, never in terms of a strong love that insists for us what is right and true, and what is ultimately what we need, not just what we want.

And what is the “wrath of God?” The wrath of God is our experience of the total incompatibility of unrepented sin before the holiness of God. The unrepentant sinner cannot endure the presence, and the holiness of God, There is for such a one wailing and grinding of teeth, anger and even rage when confronted by the existence of God and the demands of His justice and holiness. God’s wrath does not mean in some simplistic sense that God is “mad” as if being emotionally worked up to fury. God is not moody and unstable. God is not subject to temper tantrums like we are. Rather this, God is holy, and the unrepentant sinner cannot endure his holiness, but experiences it as wrath.

To the degree that God’s wrath is in Him, it is his passion to set things right. God is patient and will wait and work to draw us to repentance. But his justice and truth cannot forever tarry, and when judgment sets in on a person or culture, a civilization or epoch, his holiness and justice are reveled as wrath to the unrepentant, be it an individual or a culture.

And what was the central sin of St. Paul’s day, and our own too? Simply stated in the verse, THE sin of Romans 1 is this, (and it is the sin that leads to every other problem): they suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Note this well, those who seek to remain in their wickedness suppress the truth. It was the problem in St. Paul’s day and also in ours. On account of wickedness, and a desire to persist in sin, many suppress the truth. The catechism of the Catholic Church warns,

by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin….it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful. (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 37)

 

Yes, and St Paul also told St. Timothy

 

For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Tim 4:3)

 

And as Isaiah had described:

 

They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions! (Isaiah 30:10)

 

Yes, on account of a desire to cling to their sin and to justify themselves, people in Paul’s day and now as well suppress the truth. And while this human tendency has always existed, it has taken on a widespread and collective tendency in our own times, as it did in St. Paul’s age.  There is an increasing and widespread tendency for people of our own time in the decadent West to go on calling good, or no big deal what God calls sinful.

As such we suppress the truth and now, as then, the wrath of God is being revealed. We shall see just how his wrath is revealed in a moment. But the text makes it clear, on account of the sin of the repeated, collective and obstinate suppression of the truth, God’s wrath is being revealed on the culture of the decadent West.

II. Revelation that is Refused - The text goes on to say,  and since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. – (Romans 1:19-20)

Note well that God the Holy Spirit and St. Paul attest that the suppression of the truth is willful. We are not dealing with simple ignorance here. And while it is true that the Pagan people of St. Paul’s day did not have the Scriptures, nevertheless, they are “without excuse.” Why? Because they had the revelation of creation. Creation reveals God, and speaks not only to His existence, but also to his attributes, to his justice and to his  his power, his will and the good order He instills in what he has made and thus expects of us.

All of this makes even those raised outside the context of faith, whether in the First Century or own day, to be “without excuse.”

The Catechism also couches our responsibility to discover and live the truth as rooted in the existence of something called the conscience:

Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths….It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments….[Conscience] is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ. (Catechism of the Catholic Church #s 1776-1778).

Again, and therefore, because of the witness and revelation of the Created order, and on account of the conscience present and operative in all who have attained the use of reason, those who suppress the truth are without excuse for this suppression. They are suppressing what, deep down, they know.

It has been my experience for 25 years as a pastor working with sinners (and not being without sin myself) that those I must confront about their sin, know, deep down, what they are doing. They may have suppressed the still small voice of God, and they may have sought to keep His voice at bay by layers of stinking thinking. They have also collect false teachers to confirm them in their sin and permitted  many deceivers to tickle their ears. But, deep down they know what they do is wrong and, at the end of the day, they are without excuse.

Some degree of the lack of due discretion may ameliorate the severity of their culpability, but ultimately they are without excuse for the suppressing of the truth. There is a revelation of creation (and for many today, also the Word of God which has been preached and heard by most).

But many today, as in Paul’s time refuse revelation, doing so willfully and to justify wickedness, they are without excuse.

III. The Result in the Ranks - The Text says, For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but became vain in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. (Romans 1:21-23)

This should seem very familiar. As in St. Paul’s Day, but even more so in ours, a prideful culture has set aside God, whether through explicit atheism and militant secularism, or through neglect and willful tepidity. God has been escorted to the margins of our proud anthropocentric culture. His wisdom has been forcibly removed from our schools, and the public square.  His image and any reminders of him are increasing removed by force of law. And many too mock His holy Name and mention His truth only to ridicule and scorn it as a remnant from the “dark ages.”

Faith and the magnificent deposit of knowledge and culture that has come with it, has been scoffed at as a relic from times less enlightened and scientific than our our own “brilliant” and enlightened times.

Our disdainful culture has become a sort of iconoclastic anti-culture which has systematically put into the shredder every vestige of Godly wisdom it can. The traditional family, human sexuality, chastity, self control, moderation and almost every other virtue have been scorned and willfully smashed by the iconoclasts of this time. To them everything of this sort must go.

And as a prophetic interpretation of reality, the Scripture from Romans describes the result of suppressing the truth and refusing to acknowledge and glorify God. The text says, they became vain in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.

Yes there is a powerful darkening effect that comes from suppressing the truth and refusing the wisdom and revelation of God. While claiming to be so wise, so smart and advanced, we have instead become foolish, and vain, as our intellects grow dimer and darker by the day. Our concern for vain, foolish, passing and silly things knows little bounds today. And yet the things that really do matter, death, judgment, heaven and hell,  are almost never attended to. We run after foolish things but cannot even exercise moderate self control. Our debt knows no bounds but we cannot stop spending. We cannot make or keep commitments, addictions are off the hook, and all most basic indicators indicate grave problems: graduation rates, SAT scores, teenage pregnancy,  STDs, abortion rates, AIDs, Divorces rates, cohabition rates. All the numbers that should be up are down, and the number that should be down are up.

Claiming to be so wise and smart, we have become collectively foolish and even our capacity to think clearly of solutions and have intelligent and meaningful conversations becomes increasingly impossible, since we cannot agree on even basic points. We simply talk past each other and live in separate little stovepipes, in smaller and increasingly self defined worlds.

And if your think the line about idolatry doesn’t apply today, don’t kid yourself. People are into stones and rocks, and all sorts of strange syncretistic combinations of religions, to include the occult. This is the age of the “designer God” wherein people no longer tolerate the revealed God of the Scriptures, but recast, reinvent, and remake a God of their own understanding, who just so happens to agree with everything they think.

And if some troublesome and intolerant priest happens to quote Scripture, well, there are any number of ways that darkened minds can suppress that truth real fast. Yes, idolatry is alive and well in age of a designer God, a personal sort of hand carved idol that can be invoked over an against the true God of the Scriptures.

And for all this people today congratulate themselves for being tolerant, open-minded, non-judgemental and so forth. Our senseless minds have become very dark, our thoughts vain and our behavior foolish.

Our culture is in the very grave condition that this Scripture, this prophetic interpretation of reality describes. There is much for which we are rightfully concerned.

But wait, the darkness, foolishness, idolatry and vanity get even worse. We must read on.

IV. The Revelation of the Wrath – The text says,  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Rom 1: 24-27)

And here the “wrath” is revealed. The text simply says, “God gave them over to their sinful desires.” This is the wrath, this is the revelation of the total incompatibility of unrepented sin before the holiness of God and the holiness to which we are summoned.

In effect, God says, “OK, if you want sin and rebellion, you can have it. It is all yours. I will now allow you to experience the full consequences of your sinful rebellion. You will now feel the full fury of your own sinful choices.” Yes, God gave them over to their sinful desires….

And as a prophetic interpretation of reality, it seems conclusive that God has also given us over in a similar way to our sinful desires.

And note the first and most prominent effect of this being given over to sinful desires: sexual confusion of a colossal degree. The text describes sexual impurity, the degradation of their bodies, shameful lusts and the shameful acts of homosexual perversion that is condoned and celebrated. The text also speaks of bodily penalties for such action, probably disease and other deleterious effects that come from doing what is unnatural and using the body for purposes for which it is not designed.

Welcome to the 21st Century decaying West.

Many misunderstand what Romans 1 is saying and point to this text to warn us that God will punish us for our condoning and celebrating of homosexual acts. But Romans 1 does not say  God will punish for this. Romans 1 says that the widespread condoning and celebrating of homosexual acts IS God’s punishment, it is the revelation of wrath. It is the first and chief indication that God has given us over to our stubborn sinfulness and to our lust.

Now, let us be careful to distinguish here. The text does not say that homosexuals are per se being punished. For some may mysteriously have this orientation but live chastely. But rather the text is saying we are all being punished.

Why? For over 60 years now the decadent West has celebrated promiscuity, pornography, fornication, cohabitation, contraception, and even to some extent adultery. The resulting carnage of abortion, STDs, AIDs, single motherhood, absent fathers, poverty, and all sorts of hideous and heinous effects on our children has not been enough to bring us to our senses. Our lusts have become wilder and more and more debased.

In contraception we severed the connections between sex, procreation, and marriage. Our senseless minds have become darkened. Sex was reduced to two adults doing what they pleased in order to have fun or “share love (lust).” This opened the door to increasingly debased sexual expression and irresponsibility.

Enter the homosexual community and its demands for acceptance. And the wider culture, now debased, darkened, and deeply confused, cannot comprehend what is frankly obvious, that homosexual acts are wholly contrary to nature. The very design of the body, of the actual body parts shouts against it. But the wider culture, already deeply immersed in its own unnatural confusions about sex via contraception, and an increasing and steady diet by many of highly debased pornography that celebrates both oral and anal sex among heterosexuals, had no answer to the challenge.

We have gone out of our collective mind, our senseless minds are darkened, confused, foolish, and debased. This is wrath, this is what it means to be given over to our sinful desires. This is what happens when God finally has to say to a culture, “If you want sin, you have it, until it comes out of your ears.”

How many tens of millions of aborted babies have been sacrificed to our wild lusts, how high have the other body counts of pain effects gone: children in poverty, without fathers, in confused and broken homes, divorce, STDs, deaths by AIDs. In none of this have we repented.

But in all of it the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Notice again, homosexuals are not being singled out, the wrath is against ALL godlessness and wickedness of all who suppress the truth. And when even our lustful carnage has not been enough to bring us to our senses, God finally says, enough, and gives us over to our own sinful desires to feel their full effect. We have become so collectively foolish and vain in our thinking and darkened in our intellect that we now as a culture “celebrate” homosexual acts which Scripture rightly calls disordered (paraphysin = “contrary to nature” and is the word St. Paul uses in this passage to assess homosexual acts). Scripture also speaks of these sorts of acts as acts of grave depravity that cry to heaven for vengeance.

But, as the text says, Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them (verse 32). This is darkness, this is wrath.

This is what it means to be given over to our sins, a deeply darkened mind. The celebration of homosexual acts IS God’s punishment and demonstrates, according to the text that God has given us over.

V. The  Revolution that Results – The text says, Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  (Romans 1:28-31)

The text states clearly and in very familiar terms the truth that when sex, and marriage and family go into the cultural shredder, and enormous number of social ills are set loose.

This is because children are no longer properly formed. The term “bastard” in its figurative term refers to an incorrigible person, and its more literal meaning is some one who has no father. Both senses are related. And this text says in effect that every starts to act like bastards.

Children raised in large numbers, outside the best setting of a father and a mother in a stable traditional family, is a recipe for the social disaster described in these verses. I will not comment on them any further. They speak well for themselves and well describe our current struggle. Here too is the wrath revealed and the giving over to our sin that God seems to have permitted .

 VI.  The Refusal to Repent - Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:32)

Here too is the mystery of our iniquity, of our stubborn refusal to repent, no matter how high the body count, how clear the evidence. Let us pray we will still come to our senses. But if not, God has a record of allowing civilizations to come and go, nations to rise and fall. If we do not love life we do not have to have it. If we want lies rather than truth, we can have them and feel their full effects.

But somewhere God is saying,

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. (2 Chron 7:14-15)

Oremus!