Kartikey Sehgal

The Pope has stated that he wants to save humanity from ‘gay threat’. According to him, humankind deserves the same attention as the dying tropical rain forests.  

It is common knowledge that the biggest threat to rain forests is ‘mankind’ or humans. And the Church has maintained that one of the biggest threats to mankind is the homosexual. Thereby, the Church has always kept homosexuality out of the realm of normal sexual behavior. Never mind that it has always existed and that the church is among its secretive followers.

There are cultures where the sexual act is glorified and equated with the ideal of divinity. It is not the case in Christianity and the Church must not speak on behalf of the entire world on any issue.

For instance, homosexuality is unlawful in India. However, in Indian philosophy homosexuality is not devilish. There were opponents of homo eroticism but there wasn’t any talk of punishment for homosexuals. The Rigveda and the Kamasutra depict homosexuality as a natural act even though this writer has read more references to female homosexuality. 

Similarly, before Christianity was forced in Africa, the society was permissive to homosexuality. So the Pope must not speak for human race or ‘mankind’ as he calls it. The non-Christian world may not equate homosexuality with forest-saving.

In addition, the Pope is propagating and protecting a religion than the identity of the entire world.
Therefore, when the Pope says that the Roman Catholic Church must “protect man from the destruction of himself”, he must replace the word ‘man’ with ‘christian’.

The Pope has also said homosexuality to be disconnected from human nature. However, homosexuality has forever existed. It has always existed in Christian nations and it exists today in the Catholic Church. Thus far, the world has not been annihilated. And we realize that there are problems far bigger than the sexual orientation of people. Homosexuality is not as important as depleting forests. If forests die, we die. If people exhibit homosexual tendencies, nobody dies.

And if homosexuality is so against the idea of human beings, then why are catholic priests so desperate for one another? Pedophilia by priests is on the rise and recently there was widespread anger against the church for the acts of its priests. The church is unable to nullify or pacify the sexual urges of its people and it is adopting the task of directing the sexual natire of the world.

Gays and lesbians are not a threat to mankind. War is. Hunger is. Religion is.

A spirited rally of 1500 people protesting against the pope’s reactionary policies took place on July 19 against the backdrop of an important civil liberties victory in the courts.

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Kartikey Sehgal

The Pope should listen to adult actor Belladonna’s idea to curb paedophilia. The actor has stated that “Church clergy are at a crisis because they get no real street-level sex education but are expected to ply the streets to deliver their spiritual message.” The actor’s insistence is noteworthy because the Roman Catholic Church has for long been under the scanner for regular and repeated child sexual abuse.

The Pope was in Australia recently for the World Youth Day, an event promoted by the Roman Catholic Church, where he offered a few lines of apology for the sex crimes. The media, present to cover the Pope’s address stated that “The Pope has failed to apologise or even tackle the issue of paedophile priests…”

The Pope and other senior priests have not mentioned about measures and solutions to prevent the crimes attributed as ‘evil’ by the Pope. Probably no other individual or organisation can get any respite with such an incomprehensive adjective to a hurtful activity.

The Pope’s comrades and fellow spiritualists, expected to be responsible and wise, are neglecting the issue and hoping for a short public memory. The father of two daughters who were raped by a catholic priest has been subtly told by a senior priest to stop ‘dwelling on old wounds’. His daughters Emma and Katie were repeatedly raped between 1988 and 1993 by a priest at the Melbourne primary school. The younger daughter Katie turned to alcohol and was hit by a car at 15. She is now under 24 hour medical supervision.

Most of us may expect the church and the government (that supports the clergy) to offer financial compensation to the embittered family for their medical expenses. But the Foster family fought an eight year legal battle with the church to claim compensation.

For a family that has lost everything young, it mustn’t be very pleasing to hear the senior priest talk mostly about positive aspects of the World Youth Day. It mustn’t be inspiring to hear the Pope talk about environment for the future generation.

The senior priest told the reporters that most people were focusing on the positive aspects of the event “rather than dwelling crankily as a few people are doing on old wounds”.
The other daughter of Foster, the other ‘old wound’, 26 year old Katie, committed suicide this year.

Since the Church has never been able to address the problems bravely, they should seriously consider Belladonna’s advice to let priests watch pornography. It is highly probable that the little sexual gratification that the priests derive from the videos would prevent them from harming minors. The actor has also offered to help formulate some exercises for the priests to help them deal with sexual tension and stress. This is a commendable and intelligent proposal from a person who is known for her hectic schedules as a director and an entrepreneur of adult films.

Following her example, we could announce some immediate measures for the Pope to follow.

It would be a good gesture if the Pope met the families of the victims and apologised. Avoiding pomposity, he should accept any law suit filed against him and be present in the court if required. He should refrain from asking his juniors or colleagues to speak on his behalf. He should be accessible to the families and regularly ask about their welfare.
This, however, sounds too utopian a task for the Pope.

The Pope has met only two men and two women abused by the clergy. He did not meet Foster who has repeatedly sought an appointment with him. He is yet to speak to Foster whose predicament has saddened and angered people across nations.

Conclusion

Belladonna has offered 300 adult films to the Catholic church in Australia for distribution to priests. The church should immediately accept the films and thank the actor for her services. It would be wonderful to see children return happy from the church.