Card. Cañizares persecuted for defending nature law and common sense

WDTPRS ^ | June 21, 2016 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

[NYer]

FULL TITLE:

Valencia’s Card. Cañizares persecuted for defending nature, common sense against “gender theory”, homosexualist agenda

I was in Spain recently, having breakfast – as one does – and, while munching the ubiquitous toast with tomato looked up at the TV only to see a discussion of Card. Canizares Llovera and the trouble he was in for giving what sounded like a really good sermon in Valencia.

I shot a photo of the screen… it I can find it…

Since then the Cardinal’s problems have multiplied. BTW… he had the nickname “Ratzingerino” for a while and had served as the Prefect of Divine Worship after Card. Arinze and before Card. Sarah.

Here’s a good summary from Reason.com with my usual treatment:

Spanish Cardinal Faces Criminal Charges for Homily Remarks

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares faces hate speech charges for questioning [questioning… but really denouncing] “gay empire,” “radical feminism,” and “gender theory” during homily.

Just in case you need more examples of why laws against “hate speech” are a bad idea, here’s a case out of Spain in which a Catholic leader is under investigation for remarks he made during a religious ceremony. [If a certain party wins lots of election in these USA, this is what we will see happen more and more often.]

While giving the homily at a Catholic University of Valencia mass, the Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, suggested that “the gay empire” and “radical feminism” were undermining traditional family values. “The family is being stalked today, in our culture, by endlessly grave difficulties,” he said. “When the family is attacked or is diminished, the most sacred forms of human relationship are perverted.”

Note that the 70-year-old Cardinal didn’t threaten violence against anyone, nor attempt to incite listeners to violence. He merely expressed his—perhaps unfashionable, but hardly radical or dangerous—opinion that Spain has passed “legislation contrary to the family,” and that this stems from “the action of political and social forces,” including the “gay empire,” the ideas of “radical feminism,” and “the most insidious of all, gender theory.” [Which is demonic.  I’m with Card. Sarah on that.]

Yet because hate speech is such a nebulous concept, one rooted in à la mode concepts of civility and shifting perceptions of power, the homily Cañizares gave has earned him an investigation by the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Valencia.  [Wait till you read the name of the office involved.]

The investigation stems from a criminal omplaint filed by Lambda LGBT collective, which called Cañizares’ homily “homophobic and sexist,” designed to “incite hatred against those who do not enter fit into the archaic models defended by the Catholic hierarchy.” That’s right: the group is upset about a Catholic official defending “Catholic hierarchy” during a Catholic mass.

Alas, this effort to dictate the confines of religious rhetoric isn’t just a whim of one particularly illiberal activist group; Lambda’s complaint was signed by 55 other organizations, including the Spanish Network of Help to Refugees. [I direct the readership to a book by Andrew McCarthy called The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America. ] In a statement, the Network accused Cañizares of being an “ultra conservative” who yearned for the “times when immigrants, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transsexuals and women were subjected to the dictates of a society governed by the powers of the Catholic church society.” Apparently, such sentiment is now potentially criminal in Spain.

The governor of Valencia condemned Cañizares for “fomenting hatred, while the Monica Oltra, Valencia’s [Get this!] vice president and minister for Equality and Inclusive Policies, called the Cardinal a misogynist. If found guilty of the charges against him, Cañizares could face up to three years in prison.

This is where things are going.

Free speech and religious liberty are under attack.

[NYer]

In those countries where homosexuality has been "normalized", the Bible then becomes hate speech, for example Romans 1:29-32. In a recent article, the NYT reported: Last week Republican Congressman read this passage aloud to his colleagues, incurring the wrath of gay rights advocates who called on Republicans to condemn the “vile and dangerous remarks” contained in the biblical text. The Catholic bishop of Saint Petersburg, Fla, similarly blamed Catholic disapproval of homosexual acts for the brutal Orlando slaughter.

With the legalization of gay marriage, the attacks on christianity are bound to intensify. Cardinal Ratzinger, in a 1969 speech, predicted the future of the Church. Prophetic? When Father Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Future of the Church

[GreyFriar]

And our Liberal-Leftist “elite” are using political correctness to abolish the first amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and freedom of religion in this country, followed by their desire to abolish the 2nd amendment.

[Arthur McGowan]

Not a peep out of Pope Bergoglio. And he is meeting soon with the MOST LEFT-WING party in Spain, just before elections.

[Salvation]

God bless Cardinal Antonio Cañizares!

And may the angels protect him.

[Excellence]

“I expect to die in bed,” Francis Eugene Cardinal George famously remarked. “My successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history.” Perhaps it will not come to that. But we already are on the precipice of sending men with guns to the homes and businesses of bakers to enforce compliance with dictates undreamt-of the day before yesterday.
Yes, render unto Caesar, and all that. But render only what is Caesar’s - and not one mite more.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Lord, have mercy.