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From nazi youth to homophobic pope
by Tommi Avicolli Mecca
It's official: The new pope is a former Nazi youth member (he says he
was forced to join) and rabid homophobe (he's unapologetic about that).
Cardinal Joseph Alois Ratzinger, Pope John Paul's Prefect for the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church institution that
gave us the Inquisition in Spain, will now lead the religion that
slaughtered millions during the Crusades and the witch burnings and stood
silently by during World War II while the Nazis wiped out Jews, homos,
Gypsies and others.
Ratzinger has been the voice of extreme homophobia and outright
insensitivity towards queers and others for the many years he worked side
by side with John Paul. In the late 80s he declared in a letter to bishops
that homos were "innately evil" and responsible for AIDS. He also attacked
the Marxist-based liberation theology of Latin America, a theology that
inspired catholic nuns and priests to risk their lives in defense of the
poor and the oppressed.
Ratzinger takes over the reins of a church that is suffering from
shrinking congregations and a serious decline in young people eager to join
the priesthood or convent. Its resources are being drained by hundreds of
lawsuits against priests accused of the sexual abuse of children. Instead
of the cardinals electing someone who could heal wounds, and open doors and
let in fresh air, thereby bringing people back into the fold, they stepped
several centuries back into a darker era when the church committed
atrocities as easily as any evil empire.
Ultimately, It could be a good thing.
Ratzinger's continued persecution of homos may finally motivate
Dignity, the gay catholic group, to become militant and take to the pews
with a newfound intolerance for its church's insane hatred of homos and
other sexual outlaws. What a breath of fresh air it would be to hear
Dignity tell it like it is--that the church's anti-gay theology leads to
violence against queers, not to mention self-hatred and suicide in queer
youth. Perhaps Dignity members will perform civil disobedience at catholic
functions, including appearances by San Francisco Archbishop William J.
Levada, another man of the cloth who doesn't believe in queer rights.
Perhaps having a Jerry Falwell type as pope could motivate liberal
catholics to leave the church in droves. If they need religion, they can
join the Quakers. At least then they wouldn't have to support a religion
that bashes queers and opposes safe sex education, contraception, abortion,
and a women's right to reproductive freedom. C'mon, all you catholics who
march against war and support a woman's right to choose, not to mention her
right to have a role in the church. Join the exodus now. Don't be a part of
an institution that has a track record of always being on the wrong side of
human rights struggles everywhere.
Having a fundamentalist for a pope could also drive moderate
catholics to the left. They might suddenly remember that this is the same
church that persecuted Galileo for saying the world was round and kept
Nicholas Copernicus from publishing his theory of the earth revolving
around the sun. They may recall that they, too, have friends, co-workers
and family members who are queer. That they don't hate Jews or think that
women who use contraception are evil. Ratzinger's extremism may turn them off.
In the end Ratzinger may do more to liberalize his own church than
any Marxist priest in Latin America teaching poor people to fight back
against the rich aristocracy that reaps the benefits of their labor.
It might actually move the church out of the dark ages.
Tommi Avicolli Mecca is an ex-catholic southern Italian queer radical
activist, performer and writer who believes, as Marx did, that religion is
an opiate.
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