Pope Ratzinger Still Bad

May 1984: Ratzinger orders the imprimatur lifted from Sexual Morality by Fr. Philip S. Keane, published in 1977 by Paulist Press. Keane argues that homosexual conduct cannot be understood as "absolutely immoral."

1985: As head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger upbraided Seattle's archbishop for his liberal views on women, gays and doctrinal issues. In his 1985 report, Ratzinger disciplined Hunthausen for the archdiocese's ministries to gays and lesbians, including hosting services at St. Joseph's for Dignity Seattle. That's the state chapter of a national organization of gay Catholics. In one of the Vatican's most widely publicized reports, Ratzinger warned Hunthausen against politicizing the issue of women in the church, misuse of married ex-priests, marrying divorced people and giving them communion rights, giving communion in ecumenical settings, and granting general absolution of sins to large groups.

October 1986: Ratzinger publishes a document titled "On The Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons." The letter warns of "deceitful propaganda" from pro-homosexual groups. It instructs bishops not to accept groups that "seek to undermine the teaching of the church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely." The letter refers to homosexual orientation as an "intrinsic moral evil."

January 1987: After prolonged debate, The Catholic University of America fires Fr. Charles Curran, a moral theologian known for his dissent from official church teaching on sexual ethics. On homosexuality, Curran has written: "Homosexual acts in the context of a loving relationship that strives for permanency can in a certain sense be objectively morally acceptable."

1987: He claims that Jewish history and scripture reach fulfilment only in Christ — a position denounced by critics as “theological anti-semitism”.

December 1988: Dominican Fr. Matthew Fox is silenced by Ratzinger, citing his failure to condemn homosexuality, among a host of other issues. Fox is expelled from the Dominican order in 1992.

July 1992: Ratzinger sends a letter to the U.S. bishops supporting legal discrimination against homosexuals in certain areas: adoption rights, the hiring of gays as teachers or coaches, and the prohibition of gays in the military. In such situations, Ratzinger writes, "it is not unjust discrimination to take sexual orientation into account."

July 1998: The Committee on Marriage and Family of the U.S. bishops' conference re-issues its letter to parents of homosexuals, "Always Our Children," after making several changes demanded by Ratzinger. They include referring to homosexuality as a "deep-seated" rather than "fundamental" dimension of personality; suggesting that homosexual acts by adolescents may not indicate a homosexual orientation; adding a footnote describing homosexuality as "objectively disordered"; and deleting a passage that encourages use of terms such as homosexual, gay and lesbian from the pulpit in order to "give people permission" to discuss homosexuality.

2000: He signs a document, Dominus Jesus, in which he argued: “Only in the Catholic church is there eternal salvation”. This brands other Christian churches as deficient -- shocking Anglicans, Lutherans and other Protestants in ecumenical dialogue with Rome for years.

Ratzinger also told priests to deny communion to anyone who voted for Kerry in the 2004 elections. And he tried to cover-up the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy.

What a legacy so far.

NOTE: Info cut and pasted from various sources.