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Spanish Roman Catholic Priest Comes Out |
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By Rex Wockner International News Report Romania Legalizes Gays, Bans Discrimination
The EU made decriminalization of homosexuality a pre-condition of Romania's acceptance into the 15-nation union, which is pending. "ACCEPT will carefully monitor the effects of this political will in the judicial practice and will provide free-of-charge legal assistance to the eventual victims of discrimination, since changing the text of laws will not automatically eliminate the situations of discrimination based on sexual orientation," said ACCEPT Executive Director Adrian Coman. According to ILGA, three other nations that hope to join the EU still ban gay sex -- Cyprus, Hungary and Bulgaria. Spanish Roman Catholic Priest Comes Out
In announcing Mantero's defrocking, Huelva Bishop Ignacio Noguer said Mantero's remarks had placed him "outside the discipline of the Church on a subject of extreme gravity and scandal for the faithful." "This obliges me, not without deep regret, formally to withdraw all ministerial licenses from Mr. José Mantero," the bishop said. A spokesman for the Spanish bishops' conference, Juan José Asenjo, added: "I don't think it is plausible for a priest to live an active homosexual life." The Roman rite of the Catholic church, the most common rite in Western nations, requires that priests be unmarried and celibate (except for married Anglican/Episcopalian priests who convert to Catholicism). All Catholics are prohibited from having gay sex, which the church says violates "natural law" and condemns one's soul to hell. |
Adrian Coman, executive director of the Romanian gay group ACCEPT 