The Pope in Portugal

It still boggles my mind that the Pope thinks he has moral authority.  During his visit to Portugal -- where the legislature passed a same-sex marriage bill that the President, a Catholic, has yet to sign -- Pope Benedict announced that gay marriage is an insidious and dangerous threat to the world.  Quotes The New York Times:

In a speech here to Catholic social service groups, Benedict called for initiatives aimed at protecting “the family based on the indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman, help to respond to some of today’s most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good.”

Now I might argue that widespread sexual abuse of children and its cover-up is the very definition of "insidious" and "dangerous,"  but I guess I'm a card carrying member of the reality community.

And remember, this is the same man who claimed that the blurring of gender roles as a result of things like gay marriage were threats to creation as serious as saving the rain forests and halting climate change.

Think about it: my living with my husband and two bassets, parenting two fabulous children, serving leadership roles in our church....that equals global warming?

I agree wholeheartedly with Peter Tatchel of the gay rights group OUTrage  who said:

The Pope is fast losing all his sense of moral priorities. Compared to war, poverty and racism, gay marriage is a minor issue. It is not worthy of the Pope's moral outrage. In a world filled with hate and violence, he should be encouraging love and commitment, not denouncing it.

Or what  a spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement told the Telegraph about the Pope's condemnation:

It is one thing to oppose gay marriage from religious convictions and another to make such a claim about it when you look at issues such as teenage pregnancy, sexual disease, drug abuse, world poverty and war. This is an appalling, unfounded and unjust claim. I do not really see on what basis he can say gay marriage is among the most dangerous challenges to society. It ignores real social evils the Church and others should be addressing with far greater urgency.

Not much to add to that.