The Pope has declared that saving the world from homosexual
behaviour is as important as saving the rainforests.
In a Christmas message, Benedict XVI stressed the importance
of traditional marriage and condemned gay acts as against
God's will.
He also attacked transsexuals, saying: 'It is not man who
decides who is a man or woman but God.'
Pope Benedict, 82, known as God's Rottweiler for his hardline
views, made the comments in his festive address to the Vatican's
governing body, the Curia.
He said: 'The Church must defend not only the earth, the
water and the air as gifts of creation belonging to everyone,
but it must also protect mankind against the destruction of
itself.
'The tropical forests deserve our protection, but man as
a creature deserves it no less.'
In a clear reference to homosexuality, he said the failure
to respect the union between a man and a woman amounted to
the 'auto destruction of mankind'.
Humanity needed to 'listen to the language of creation' to
understand the intended roles of man and woman, he added.
Anything that deviated from this was a 'destruction of God's
works'.
The Pope – who acquired a reputation as an aggressive,
doctrine-enforcing cardinal before he was appointed to the
Vatican top job – also defended the Church's right to
'speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this
order of creation be respected'.
