Pope Tells Protestant Churches To Bar Gays
by Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com from the Web, November 14, 2004
Vatican City -- Pope John Paul on Saturday warned Protestant churches that liberal views toward homosexuality would result in the Vatican withdrawing from ecumenism.
The Pope's remarks came during a service to mark the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council which led the Catholic Church into a period of ecumenism with other Christian Churches.
"Unfortunately, we are faced with new problems, especially those of an ethical nature, where new divisions which impede a common witness have sprouted," he said.
Seven-thousand people attended the service in St Peter's Basilica, including representatives of Anglican and Protestant Churches as well as members of the Orthodox Church, which split from Rome in the Great Schism of 1054.
The Pope's warning was seen as particularly threatening to the Anglican Church which broke away from Rome in 1534 but which in recent times has made overtures of reconciliation.
Anglicans are divided over the election of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in the American wing of Anglicanism.
A report to the leader of the worldwide Anglican faith last month called for the Episcopal Church, the American name for Anglicanism, to apologize for Robinson's elevation, and it chastised Canadian Anglicans for allowing the blessings of same-sex relationships.
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