"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is [then] of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
-- Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:13 & Luke 14:35 ESV)
Pope Said the Gay Agenda is the Work of the Devil
Pope Refutes Homosexualists: Kids Need Mom & Dad
Pope Cracks Down on American Liberal Nuns, Priests
Pope Blasts Liberal 'christians' as Pagans
Likewise, Rev. Franklin Graham says Pastors Avoiding Gay Agenda Deserve Hell
Also read what's next in the Gay Agenda societal revolution and how it is being accomplished via American public schools.
-- From "Vatican No. 2: Irish vote to legalize gay marriage a 'defeat for humanity'" by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press 5/27/15
In comments to reporters Tuesday evening, Parolin referred to remarks by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, that the results showed the church needed to do a "reality check" since it clearly wasn't reaching young people with its message.
The Catholic Church in Ireland has lost much of its moral authority following widespread sex abuse scandals and a general secularization of society. Martin himself called the vote part of a "social revolution" that required the church to look at whether it had "drifted completely away from young people."
Pope Francis hasn't commented directly on the Irish results, but on Wednesday he stressed traditional church teaching on marriage as being between man and woman. Francis has dedicated his weekly general audience catechism lessons to family issues, so Wednesday's remarks about the importance of the period of engagement before a marriage were perfectly in line with the themes he has been stressing for months.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Cardinal calls Irish vote on same-sex marriage a 'defeat for humanity'" by Tom Kington, Los Angeles Times (reporting from Rome) 5/26/15
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told reporters he was “deeply saddened” by the outcome of the Friday referendum in Ireland, in which many voters defied the Roman Catholic Church by favoring marriage for same-sex couples.
"The church must take account of this reality, but in the sense that it must strengthen its commitment to evangelization,” Parolin was quoted as saying by Italian wire agency Ansa. “I think that you cannot just talk of a defeat for Christian principles, but of a defeat for humanity."
Church officials often see any moves to legitimize gay unions as automatically weakening of the status of the traditional family. The Vatican views homosexual acts as unnatural.
. . . the Irish vote has galvanized the Italian government, led by prime minister Matteo Renzi, to push ahead with its own planned legislation on civil unions, which would allow couples of the same sex to be recognized by law.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Vatican says Ireland gay marriage vote is 'defeat for humanity'" by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome, UK Guardian 5/26/15
The remarks by the Vatican’s top diplomat, who is seen as second only to the pope in the church’s hierarchy, represent the most damning assessment of the Irish vote by a senior church official to date.
Ireland became the first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote after a referendum found that 62% of voters were in favour of changing the constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
While the results were celebrated by advocates of gay rights in Ireland and around the world, it was also seen as a stark symbol of how wide the chasm has grown between young people in what has traditionally been a staunchly Catholic country and the church itself, which says that homosexual acts are a sin and vehemently opposes gay marriage.
Parolin’s comments are sure to revive the debate about the church’s attitude to gay rights and equality under the papacy of Pope Francis, who once famously said “who am I to judge?” when asked about the existence of a “gay lobby” within the Vatican. That remark spurred hope among progressive Catholics that the church was entering a new era of tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "On Same-Sex Marriage, Catholics Are Leading the Way" by Frank Bruni, New York Times 5/27/15
Take a look at this list of countries: Belgium, Canada, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, France, Uruguay, Luxembourg and Ireland. . . . in all of them, the Roman Catholic Church has more adherents, at least nominally, than any other religious denomination does.
And all of them belong to the vanguard of 20 nations that have decided to make same-sex marriage legal.
. . . But in falling out of line with the Vatican, Irish people are actually falling in line with their Catholic counterparts in other Western countries, including the United States.
They aren’t sloughing off their Catholicism — not exactly, not entirely. An overwhelming majority of them still identify as Catholic. But they’re incorporating religion into their lives in a manner less rooted in Rome.
Catholics in the United States appear to be more, not less, progressive about gay rights than Americans in general are.
To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Vatican Says Media Distort Pope's Words
And read Media Filter Pope's Procreation Declarations
