Pope Benedict XVI on Monday called for the protection of traditional heterosexuality, comparing the Catholic church’s role in defending the family to saving the rain forests. Also not high on the Vatican’s list when it comes to issues of sexuality and “nature”: gender studies. You’re on notice, Judith Butler!

The pope made his pronouncement about saving the straights a day after celebrating the life and achievements of Galileo, whom the Vatican condemned during his lifetime. The Holy See later apologized (much later), calling the church’s attitude toward Galileo a tragic mistake.


The Australian:

“If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind … deserves it no less,” the 81-year-old pontiff said, calling for “an ecology of the human being”.

It is not “outmoded metaphysics” to urge respect for the “nature of the human being as man and woman”, he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican’s sumptuous Clementine Hall.

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