There’s a special sadness to news of the Pope’s illness — that after such a remarkable life, his last significant communication to the world may well be something as ungenerous of spirit as his condemnation of same-sex marriage as “part of a new ideology of evil”:
“If same-sex marriage qualifies as part of ‘a new ideology of evil,’ then the world is in far better shape than I thought,” said Catholic theologian and National Religious Leadership Roundtable member Mary Hunt, Co-director of Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER). “Marriage, whether in a same-sex or opposite-sex context, is a celebration of love and commitment, fidelity and family, and all desirable aspects of common life. Poverty, greed, war, and ecological destruction would better fit the Pope’s category of ‘evil’ and be more worthy of his scrutiny. In a world full of such evil, the power of same-sex love is a refreshing antidote.”
While the Pope was escalating the rhetoric, the Ontario Confederation of Catholic Bishops was actually commending a provincial bill to formally change the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples. While their position isn’t as tolerant as it appears at first glance — they’re still unhappy with the court decision that triggered the law, and their support is due to the bill’s protections for clergy who feel ooky about girls kissing each other who object to same-sex marriage on religious grounds — it’s miles away from how you would expect them to feel about an accommodation with an “ideology of evil.”
(Meanwhile, anyone disappointed by the outbreak of religious common sense in Ontario can always console themselves with the news that Shrek is trying to turn your kids gay.)
