“The Catholic Church has a vital role to play in shaping social policies”. Who says so?Well, Pope Ratzinger, of course and, as we know, it is impossible for him ever to be wrong, because he’s infallible.
Who says so?
Well, he does.
Mr Ratzinger is known for a strange physical deformity — a forked tongue — which was demonstrated to perfection when he also said that his Church does not wish to “usurp the power of secular authorities.”
In a homily to pilgrims in southern Italy, Herr Ratzinger said the Church's role in politics — where it often speaks out against abortion, gay marriage and embryo research — was not intended to take the place of western secular ways of government.
His forked tongue flickered as he spoke.
“The Christian community cannot and does not want ever to substitute the legitimate and right competencies of institutions,” the pope told pilgrims.
The previous day, Ratzinger had been strolling through the Vatican Gardens with US President George W Bush, with whom he sees eye-to-eye on many “moral issues”, the pope said the Church had the role of “supporting (governments) in their work and always proposes cooperating with them for the good of all”.
Oh really?
Try telling that to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero, under intense pressure from Catholic bishops, or Romano Prodi of Italy, driven from office by Vatican disapproval.
Try telling it to the women who have had to endure backstreet abortions, to the thousands dying from AIDS because they can’t access condoms on his say-so, to the gay people who find themselves on the receiving end of nasty discrimination and hatred because of his utterances, and the thousands of children who have suffered grotesque abuse at the hands of his priests.
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