Sex and the Vatican City

[emad]

Pope surprises Catholics with warm words on power of love

First message to flock warns against word being reduced to a sexual commodity

Stephen Bates, religious affairs correspondent
Thursday January 26, 2006
The Guardian


Pope Benedict XVI thawed his previously chilly image yesterday by producing as his first message to his worldwide flock a notably warm rumination on the nature of love. Deus Caritas Est - God is Love - marked Benedict's first encyclical or pastoral letter to the 1.1 billion members of the Roman Catholic Church since his election last April and was greeted last night with some astonishment and relief among senior Catholics.

The 71-page document spoke of love between men and women and also of the need for unconditional love towards all mankind. But it also warned against the word becoming reduced to a sexual commodity. "I wish ... to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others ... In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. Love is free; it is not practised as a way of achieving other ends."

Its central message was far from the finger-wagging, "thou shalt not" tone that characterised some of his predecessor's pronouncements and contrasted with Benedict's own stern reputation during his 24 years as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's enforcer of doctrinal orthodoxy. Catholic observers suggested that the document, written largely by the Pope himself during the latter half of last year, represented a truer indication of his nature than his image would suggest. Monsignor Andrew Faley, assistant general secretary of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: "I think it is a wonderful document. It is much more reflective and conversational in tone and less prescriptive than some past encyclicals. He is calling on people to reflect on the central truth of love. We are seeing the substance of the man as a pastor and shepherd of the flock. A cuddly Benedict? Well, well."

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Archbishop William Levada, the Vatican's new doctrinal enforcer told a press conference in Rome: "This is a strong text that seeks to contest the improper use of God's name and the ambiguity of the notion of 'love' that is so prevalent in the modern world today." The encyclical warns: "Today the term 'love' has become one of the most frequently used and misused of words ... We speak of love of country, love of one's profession, love between friends, love of work, love between parents and children, love of neighbour and love of God. Amid this multiplicity of meanings however one in particular stands out: love between man and woman, where body and soul are inseparably joined and human beings glimpse an apparently irresistible promise of happiness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1694989,00.html

[emad]

1. UK artist Stella Vine has something to say on this subject:

[trotsky]

2. There's a "thou shalt not" built right into his "warm" message.

The 71-page document spoke of love between men and women

Just a friendly little reminder to homosexuals everywhere that their love is horribly, horribly wrong. Yep, nice and warm and fuzzy.

[CatholicEdHead]

3. Homosexuals are the catch all scapegoat of the present

in the RCC and beyond. They are being blamed for EVERY problem in the church.

[Book Lover]

4. A person who has never had to sustain a sexually and

emotionally fulfilling relationship with anyone over the course of decades does not have the authority to tell me how to do it.

on edit: changed "right" to "authority"