In the up is down and white is black alternate universe of the Vatican, the Vatican semiofficial newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, declared that the Catholic Church is not losing the fight on gay marriage. Never mind the results in four state ballot measures on Tuesday where the Church position went down in flames despite millions of dollars spent by the Church and its subordinates and threats of hell fire and damnation from multiple bishops to the Catholic laity if they supported Barack Obama and gay marriage. Oh, and did I mention the Supreme Court of Spain, once a Catholic bastion, upholding gay marriage after an appeal by conservative politicians allied with the Catholic Church. Meanwhile, Australia appears near launching a national inquiry into the Catholic Church's deliberate cover ups of sexual abuse across that nation. One can only conclude that engaging in the denial of reality and criminal conspiracies is about the only thing the Church hierarchy seems able to do. First highlights from the Huffington Post on the laughable claim that the Church isn't losing the war on gay marriage:
Despite recent setbacks in the United States and Europe, the Catholic Church is not losing the fight on gay marriage, the Vatican semiofficial newspaper claimed on Friday (Nov. 9).
On the contrary, according to an article in L'Osservatore Romano by historian Lucetta Scaraffia, the church has emerged in recent years as the only institution on the global stage that's capable of resisting the forces that threaten to "break up ... human society."
Voters upheld gay marriage in referendums in four U.S. states, while the French government recently introduced legislation that will allow gay couples to marry and adopt children. Spain's Constitutional Court on Monday (Nov. 5) rejected a bid to repeal the country's 2005 gay marriage law.
According to the historian, the church's fight on moral issues such as gay marriage and abortion has drawn support and "admiration" from many non-Catholics. . . . Scaraffia says that the church is "the only institution" that defends traditional family, "the foundation upon which all human societies have been built until today," from what she called a "politically correct ideology" supported, among others, by the United Nations.
Of course, these alleged admirers are not identified and one can only assume they are the evangelical Christians in America who just took a major drubbing or the ignorant, uneducated and gullible in Africa who have not yet learned to reject the Church's 13th century view of mankind and science.
As for Australia, as noted, it would appear that the proverbial shit may be about to hit the fan. Faced with increased calls for a national inquiry into the criminal conduct of the Church and members of the hierarchy, it increasingly looks like such an inquiry will be launched. We all know where similar inquiries in Ireland lead to and the Church's ultimate free fall. Here are excerpts from the Adelaide Advertiser:
INDEPENDENT senator Nick Xenophon says allegations of child sex abuse and systemic cover-ups inside the Catholic Church warrant a national royal commission. "The days when we allow the Catholic Church to be its own investigator are well and truly over," he said in a statement on Saturday.
The senator was responding to calls for a NSW royal commission by a senior police detective who claims evidence of paedophilia has been destroyed by Catholic priests.
Senator Xenophon said the allegations of Detective Inspector Peter Fox were so grave only a national royal commission could get to the truth.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell announced a special commission of inquiry into police handling of abuse by Catholic Church clergy in the Hunter Valley, after Inspector Fox's claims of a cover-up were aired.
Senator Xenophon says allegations go beyond state borders, citing similar claims of abuse and cover-up in South Australia and Victoria.One can only wish that a similar national inquiry would
A former NSW priest and police chaplain has said abuse is widely covered up in the church. Kevin Lee, who was ordained as a priest 20 years ago but was relieved of his parish responsibilities in western Sydney this year when he admitted to marrying a woman in secret, said he first became aware of the practice as soon as he was in the seminary.
"I became aware that some of the other priests were actually pedophiles and were not necessarily becoming priests because they wanted to help people, but because they were pedophiles who wanted the opportunity," he told ABC television.
One can only wish that a national inquiry into sex abuse cover ups would be launched in the United States. I suspect that a number of foul bishops and cardinals might end up behind bars.
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