Gays will never enter heaven according to Cardinal Barragan

by Rhonda J Mangus | December 2, 2009 at 02:36 pm

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Gays and trans people will never enter heaven according to leading Catholic Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan. Cardinal Barragan, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Workers in the Roman Catholic Church, referenced St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans to substantiate his belief, yet added that this was not a reason to discriminate against gay and trans people.

The cardinal cited Saint Paul's epistle to the Romans, which he claimed said men should not sleep with other men.

Speaking to news agency Ansa, Barragan added: "People are not born homosexual, they become homosexual, for different reasons: education issues or because they did not develop their own identity during adolescence.

"It may not be their fault, but acting against nature and the dignity of the human body is an insult to God."

Howver, Barragan, the retired head of the Vatican's Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, added that this was not a reason to discriminate against gay and trans people.

He said: "Homosexuality is therefore a sin, but this does not justify any form of discrimination. God alone has the right to judge.

"We on earth cannot condemn, and as human beings we all have the same rights."

In 2006, Barragan reportedly said that condoms could be the lesser of two evils of one partner in a marriage was HIV-positive.

He subsequently backtracked on this and the Vatican reiterated its stance that condom use was unacceptable in any circumstance.

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Matthew 23:13-26 13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in. 14 * [No text] 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. 16 "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If any one swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, 'If any one swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; 21 and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it; 22 and he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. 23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. 26 You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

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Gays will never enter heaven according to Cardinal Barragan

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