Monday, May 14, 2007

The Vatican Replies to their Accusers

As the Vatican has been recently accused of political involvement in staging rallies against newly drafted measures to give gays and unwed couples more rights, the Pope has responded even though he currently is visting Brazil.

After over a million fliers were handed out, the Pope seems to have taken the approach of arguing in semantics: "If the Church were to start transforming herself into a directly political subject," he observed, "she would do less, not more, for the poor and for justice, because she would lose her independence and her moral authority." (Quote in Italian here). He defended actions as "defending the family" and not as political acts.

The Pope then also continues to blast both the left and the right: "The Marxist system has left a sad inheritance of economic and ecological destructions and a painful destruction of the spirit. The same for the West, where the distance between poor and rich grows constantly and an alarming degradation of personal dignity with deceptive illusions of happiness are produced."

Meanwhile, estimates from 250,000 to over a million people gathered in Rome to protest the legislation. It is difficult to say that the Vatican is not involved with politics with such a sweeping protest assembled. With its strong following and support, the Vatican may more accurately be described as a political party all its own that doesn't need direct seats in the legislature than "involved with politics".

No comments: