Three years ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became the new Pope. Gay Catholic activists greeted the news with horror—while under Ratzinger’s decades-long guidance, the Vatican had become more intolerant of homosexuality.
This month, the church leader will visit New York. Gay Catholic activists will greet the leader with demonstrations and protest signs.
Pope Benedict XVI will pay a three-day visit to New York, April 18–20, as part of a five-day sojourn in the United States. Catholic LGBT activists are planning a demonstration and press conference to let him and the public know how they feel about the Church’s position on sexuality.
“It was our worst nightmare,” said Jeff Stone, secretary of the New York chapter of LGBT Catholic organization DignityUSA, describing the reaction Ratzinger’s appointment. “This man had been the chief persecutor of the Catholic gay community during the many years he was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. That’s a descendant of the Office of the Inquisition.”
http://www.nyblade.com/2008/3-28/news/localnews/1214Pope.cfm