[Newspaper clipping: State GOP leader rejects gay endorsement] Part: 2 of 2
1 p. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this clipping.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Pope plans October visit to New York
Pontiff expected to address U.N. during international
'Year of the Family'; gays expect hostile stanceBy Victor L. Simpson
Officials of the Archdiocese of New
York announced Tuesday that Pope
John Paul II will visit the city in October,
where he is expected to deliver a major
address on family matters to the United
Nations.
The pontiff is expected to use the
occasion to condemn the notion of
"alternative" families - that is, families
not headed by a heterosexual married
couple. He also is expected to condemn
abortion and contraception.
John Paul II has become
increasingly strident in public remarks
about these subjects, as a recent parish
tour on the outskirts of Rome showed.
"I'm not strict, I'm gentle by nature,"
the pope told parishioners. "But when it
comes to defending principles, I don't
bend."
He then went on to condemn the
concept of marriage for gay and lesbian
couples.
The recent parish visit was part of a
new crusade against homosexuality,
contraception, abortion, euthanasia and
other elements of modern society the
pope believes have no place in Roman
Catholicism.
"No human society can run the risk
of permissiveness in fundamental issues
regarding the nature of the family," the
pope, in the 16th year of his pontificate,
wrote in a recent message to Roman
Catholic families.
He is considering addressing the
U.N. General Assembly to give his views
worldwide resonance. The United
Nations has declared 1994 the
International Year of the Family, as has
the church. He has already served notice
that the Vatican will battle to block any
reference to abortion from the final
resolution of a U.N. population
conference in September, as it
White to sign books -
Mel White, Dean of the Cathedral
of Hope Metropolitan Community
Church, will sign copies of his newsuccessfully did 10 years ago in Mexico
City.
The pope staked out his position ir
an encyclical last October that declare(
morality was not a matter of opinion an(
that certain acts are always evil.
"What the pope is doing is playin;
out the implications of that encyclical,
said George Weigel, a theologian fron
the Ethics and Public Policy Center ir
Washington, D.C. "The challenge
presented [by legal marriage of gays]
cuts right to the heart."
But in a world of scientific advances
that have produced the day-after
abortion pill and made possible in-vitro
births, the pope's words often seem to
fall on deaf ears.
In January, he urged Italian Catholic
pharmacists to reject selling condoms
and other birth control devices. But
there are no signs any pharmacy has
taken down the racks of multicolored
packs of condoms on their counters.
"It's not like abortion, where the law
allows doctors to be conscientious
objectors," said Giovanni Milozza in his
store on the busy Via del Corso. "If
someone comes in with a prescription
for birth control pills, you have to sel
them."
In the case of gay marriages, Johr
Paul is trying to head off legislators fron
recognizing such unions. In a rare attack
on a specific political institution, h<
assailed a resolution adopted by th(
European Parliament Feb. 8 that gay an(
lesbian couples be allowed to marry an
adopt children, and urged the 1:
parliaments in the European Union tc
reject it.
He returned to the subject during his
visit to the Church of St. Bernard of
Chiaravalle in a lower-class Rome
neighborhood, condemning "false and
fictitious families composed of two men
or two women. We respect every man
and every woman, but to build a family
on that basis is wrong and dangerous,"
he declared. VI
Search Inside
This clipping can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this part or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current part of this Clipping.
Dallas Voice. [Newspaper clipping: State GOP leader rejects gay endorsement], clipping, 1990; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc916004/m1/2/: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.