Bishop says Church cares for homosexuals but rejects “gender ideology”

Madrid, Spain, Jul 26, 2006 / 22:00 pm

In an interview with the Spanish daily “La Razon,” newly appointed Bishop Jose Ignacio Munilla of Palencia said that while the Church cares for each homosexual as a person, those who promote “gender ideology” not only fail to liberate homosexuals but actually enslave them.

The new bishop, who at 44 years old has become Spain’s youngest, said he was certain that “in the current debate about homosexuality, things are not as they appear: the Church cares for each homosexual as a person and by name; while others lay claim to a gender ideology that, far from liberating, actually enslaves homosexuals.”

Bishop Munilla also referred to the discourses by Pope Benedict XVI in Valencia during the World Meeting of Families, in which he emphasized a, “concept of the family without qualifiers.” The bishop said that several groups are attempting to classify the natural family as one of many types.  “One of the major goals they have wanted to use against us is to use the word ‘traditional’ when referring to the natural family.”

The bishop also denounced attacks on the family based on a supposed “extension of rights.”  “If any type of living arrangement is equal to the family and to marriage, then what is the family and marriage?” he asked.  In order to illustrate his point, he suggested imagining “extending the rights” of government leaders to the rest of the citizenry.  “Would not the political authorities feel under assault by the fact that citizens were laying claim to that equality?” he said.