The Late Pope Benedict: Sower of "Animosity, Disregard, and Divisiveness" Towards LGBTQIA2S+ People in the Catholic Church.

In the struggle for equal rights for LGBTQIA2S+ people in the US, in which the struggle was with leaders who are older members of government or hierarchy of the Church (universal), there has been the refrain that people knew that there would have to be some "good deaths" or "good funerals" before there was progress. Why? Because the older leaders were not going to change their minds or leadership actions around LGBTQIA2S+ people. They were "set in their ways," to use another appropriate aphorism. We would simply have to wait for the next generation, a younger generation, a generation which was more "progressive" to step into place and have the authority to bring about "good change," even if it means causing "good trouble" (Rep. John Lewis).

Last week's notice of Pope Benedict Emeritus' death was, for me, a reminder of this aphorism. Some times you need some good deaths in order to bring about change, and the abdication and death, and soon funeral, of Pope Benedict was such a case in point.

It is well known by those of us in the LGBTQIA2S+ community that Pope Benedict, as German Cardinal Ratzinger who, as Cardinal, watched over the doctrine of the Church, as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had a certain antipathy towards us. And he wrote these things in numerous writings, in sermons, and in his very abusive actions. 

For example, first, he was against the use of condoms for either heterosexual users or same-sex users. This goes back to natural theology, which espouses the theological view that anything that is unnatural, like a condom that stops pro-creation, which is natural, should not be used when having sex. However, we also knew that condoms were effective in stopping the spread of AIDS. Yet he insisted that same sex couples use abstinence instead of condoms. He was not an advocate for healthy sexual habits among same sex couples. God knows what he would've thought of PreP.

Second, Los Angeles based Sister Jeannine Gramick and Fr. Robert Nugent, who supported Catholic programs and a Catholic church that treated LGBTQIA2S+, with "respect, compassion, and sensitivity," were both condemned for their work by Pope Benedict, and were permanently prohibited from doing this work in the Catholic church, either in LA or in any other part of the world. So much for the face of the Catholic church as a compassionate church.

Third, Pope Benedict saw same-sex marriage as a threat to humanity's future. In 2021 he wrote: "We are witnessing a distortion of conscience which has evidently penetrated deeply into sectors of the Catholic people." 

In the end, John Casey of advocate.com said it best: "It's hard to wish that Benedict rest in peace, when he left so much animosity, disregard, and divisiveness in his wake." 

Here's a link to his article: https://www.advocate.com/voices/2022/12/31/pope-benedict-aka-gods-rottweiler-seethed-queers.

Sometimes there are "good deaths" and "good funerals." Such is the case with Pope Benedict.

May it be so.