Editing Pope Benedict XVI (section)

=== Homosexuality ===
{{See also|Catholic Church and homosexuality}}
During his time as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Cardinal Ratzinger addressed the issue of homosexuality. In 1986 the CDF sent a letter to all bishops entitled: ''[[On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons]]''. The letter condemned a liberal interpretation of the earlier CDF document ''Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics'', which had led to a "benign" attitude "to the homosexual condition itself". ''On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons'' clarified that the Church's position on homosexuality was that "although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."<ref name="OPCHP">Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith [http://www.vatican.edu/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons"] 1 October 1986. Retrieved 28 September 2011 [https://web.archive.org/web/20111006042232/http://www.vatican.edu/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html WebCitation archive]</ref> However, the document also condemned homophobic attacks and violence, stating that "It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs."<ref name="OPCHP" />

In 1992, Ratzinger again approved CDF documents declaring that homosexual "inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder" and extended this principle to civil law. "Sexual orientation", the document said, was not equivalent to race or ethnicity, and it declared that it was "not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account."<ref name="gland">{{cite news|first=William |last=Saletan |author-link=William Saletan |title=Gland Inquisitor: Pope Benedict's antigay tendencies |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2131019/ |work=Slate |date=29 November 2005 |access-date=30 December 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812182629/http://www.slate.com/id/2131019/ |archive-date=12 August 2011}}</ref>

On 22 December 2008, Benedict gave an end-of-year message to the Roman Curia in which he talked about gender and the important distinction between men and women. He said that the Church viewed the distinction as central to human nature, and "asks that this order of creation be respected". In his words, the Church must "protect man from self-destruction". He said "something like a human ecology" was needed, and added: "Rain forests deserve indeed to be protected, but no less so does man." He attacked "gender theories", which he described as "man's attempt at self-emancipation from creation and the Creator."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20081222_curia-romana_en.html |title=Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Members of the Roman Curia for the Traditional Exchange of Christmas Greetings |publisher=Vatican.va |date=22 December 2008 |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="gender">{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Kington |author2=Riazat Butt |title=Pope angers campaigners with speech seen as attack on homosexuality |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/24/pope-speech-gender-gay-sexuality |work=The Guardian |location=London |date= 24 December 2008|access-date=30 December 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016161618/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/24/pope-speech-gender-gay-sexuality |archive-date=16 October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Rachel |last=Donadio |title=The Vatican: In Speech, Pope Calls Homosexual Behavior a Violation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/world/europe/23briefs-INSPEECHPOPE_BRF.html |work=The New York Times |date=22 December 2008 |access-date=28 December 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417195601/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/world/europe/23briefs-INSPEECHPOPE_BRF.html |archive-date=17 April 2009}}</ref>

[[LGBT]] groups, such as the Italian [[Arcigay]] and German [[LSVD]], announced that they found Benedict's comments homophobic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lsvd.de/611+M5e34e9a2777.0.html |title=LSVD:Warum hetzt der Papst immer wieder gegen Homosexuelle? |publisher=Lsvd.de |date=22 June 2008 |access-date=2 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117155132/http://www.lsvd.de/611%2BM5e34e9a2777.0.html |archive-date=17 January 2010}}</ref> Aurelio Mancuso, head of Arcigay, said "A divine programme for men and women is out of line with nature, where the roles are not so clear."<ref name="gender" /> Canadian author [[Daniel Gawthrop (writer)|Daniel Gawthrop]], in a critical biography, ''The Trial of Pope Benedict'', said that the Pope blamed homosexuality "for a problem the church had willingly enabled for hundreds of years".<ref>''The Trial of Pope Benedict: Joseph Ratzinger and the Vatican's Assault on Reason, Compassion, and Human Dignity'' (2013, Arsenal Pulp Press)</ref>

Vatican spokesman [[Federico Lombardi]] claimed the Pope had not wished specifically to attack people with homosexual inclinations, and had not mentioned gays or lesbians in his text. Lombardi insisted that there had been an overreaction to the pope's remarks, saying: "He was speaking more generally about gender theories which overlook the fundamental difference in creation between men and women and focus instead on cultural conditioning." Nevertheless, the remarks were interpreted as a call to save mankind from homosexuals and transsexuals.<ref name="gender" />

==== Same-sex marriage ====
In an address to a conference of the Diocese of Rome held at the basilica of [[St. John Lateran]] 6 June 2005, Benedict remarked on the issues of [[same-sex marriage]] and abortion:<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 June 2005 |title=Pope Slams Gay 'Pseudo-Matrimony' |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-slams-gay-pseudo-matrimony/ |access-date=8 February 2021 |publisher=CBS News |language=en-US}}</ref>

{{blockquote
| The various forms of the dissolution of matrimony today, like free unions, trial marriages and going up to pseudo-matrimonies by people of the same sex, are rather expressions of an anarchic freedom that wrongly passes for true freedom of man ... from here it becomes all the more clear how contrary it is to human love, to the profound vocation of man and woman, to systematically close their union to the gift of life, and even worse to suppress or tamper with the life that is born.
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During a 2012 Christmas speech,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Benedict XVI |url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2012/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20121221_auguri-curia_en.html |title=Address of his Holiness Benedict XVI on the occasion of Christmas greetings |publisher=Vatican |date=21 December 2012 |access-date=26 December 2012}}</ref> Benedict made remarks about the present-day interpretation of the notion of [[gender]]. He stated that a new philosophy of sexuality, which he rejects, suggests that "sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves", and "The words of the creation account: 'male and female he created them' (Gen 1:27) no longer apply". Although he did not mention the topic, his words were interpreted by news media as denunciations of same-sex marriage,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-denounces-gay-marriage-as-people-manipulating-their-godgiven-gender-to-suit-sexual-choices-8428862.html |title=Pope denounces gay marriage as 'people manipulating their God-given gender to suit sexual choices' |first1=Jerome |last1=Taylor |newspaper=The Independent |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221170419/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-denounces-gay-marriage-as-people-manipulating-their-godgiven-gender-to-suit-sexual-choices-8428862.html |archive-date=21 December 2012 |date=21 December 2012 |access-date=21 December 2012}}</ref> with some outlets adding that Benedict would have called it a threat to world peace similar to abortion and euthanasia.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/pope-makes-new-anti-gay-marriage-stance/story-fn3dxix6-1226542140170 |title=Pope makes new anti-gay marriage stance |newspaper=The Australian |agency=Australian Associated Press (AAP) |access-date=21 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221130951/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/pope-makes-new-anti-gay-marriage-stance/story-fn3dxix6-1226542140170 |archive-date=21 December 2012}}</ref> In March 2012, he stated that heterosexual marriages should be defended from "every possible misrepresentation of their true nature".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/03/09/pope-straight-marriage-must-be-defended-from-misrepresentation/ |title=Pope: Straight marriage must be 'defended from misrepresentation' |first1=Stephen |last1=Gray |website=Pink News |date=9 March 2012 |access-date=21 December 2012}}</ref>