Word: catechismic
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WHAT LASTING MARK HAS POPE JOHN PAUL II MADE? The Pontiff is renowned, among other things, for his vigorous effort to stem dissent and clarify what Catholicism stands for. Thus the newly issued Universal Catechism "will be the signature that the Pope leaves behind him," says a ranking Vatican official...
John Paul's introduction says the big book adapts infallible church teaching to illuminate "the new situations and problems which had not yet emerged in the past." Writers of the last such catechism 426 years ago could not have imagined some sins condemned in 1992: test-tube conception, artificial insemination...
Though Ratzinger has been tough on homosexuality, the catechism says persons "do not choose their homosexual condition; for most, it is a trying one. They must be greeted with respect, compassion and tactfulness. Any sign of unfair discrimination against them must be avoided." But homosexual acts are deemed "intrinsically disorderly...
He will have some help. For example, the Roman Catholic Church has taken a stance against anti-gay discrimination. In a new universal catechism issued this week, the church admits that homosexuals "do not choose their homosexual condition," and declares, "All manner of unjust discrimination should be avoided with respect...
Now, words like "condition" and "unjust" may make some nervous, but the injunction against discrimination is better than nothing. What more can we expect from an institution that condemns homosexual acts as "intrinsically disorderly. They go against natural law"? (That's from the new catechism also.)