VATICAN
PressEsc
Written by Ugo Lancione, Vatican Correspondent
Saturday, 30 April 2005
Human rights activists have heavily criticized the new pope Benedict XVI for calling on Catholics to discriminate against homosexuals whilst trying to cover up child sex abuse cases by priests.
Last week the Pope, speaking through Cardinal Alfonso Lopes Trujill, head of the
Pontifical Council on the Family, said Roman Catholic government officials should oppose accepting same-sex couples after the passage of a gay marriage bill in the Spanish Parliament.
Meanwhile the British newspaper The Observer revealed how Benedict XVI ‘obstructed justice’ after it emerged he issued an order ensuring the church's investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret.
The new pope is also accused of sweeping under the carpet specific sex abuse allegations made by nine different people against Friar Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ. The pontiff is quoted as having said "One can't put on trial such a close friend of the Pope's as Marcial Maciel."
“It’s okay for paedophile Catholic priests to rape little boys,” said Conor Shannon, a former abuse victim from Ireland. “But not for consenting adults of the same sex to lead a happy family life.”
Even members of the Catholic community have been enraged by the new pope’s comments.