Cute Prince101
Super Vip
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2009
- Messages
- 19,213
- Reaction score
- 11,100
- Points
- 0
POPE Benedict XVI consecrated a world monument to family, the Sagrada Familia church, in Spain but faced a gay kiss-in protest before he attacked abortion and defended male-female marriage.
As the 83-year-old Pontiff paraded in his "Popemobile" towards the unfinished masterpiece of Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, 200 gays kissed to protest the Church's rejection of homosexuality.
It was a sign of many Spaniards' embrace of the changes that Benedict abhors: easier access to abortion, gay marriage laws that have enabled 20,000 unions in five years and swifter divorce.
The Pope, his golden mitre on his head to underline the solemnity of the moment, sprinkled holy water to bless the Sagrada Familia's massive stone altar as singing from an 800-voice chorus rang out under the vaulted ceilings of the vast church during a special dedication mass.
Among an estimated 250,000 people gathered for the Pope, thousands watched on giant screens outside and broke into applause as his blessing transformed the edifice into a Basilica.
Only love and faith can lead to true freedom, said the Pope, draped in a golden robe and white stole encrusted with red crosses, as he addressed 6500 faithful.
"For this reason the Church resists every form of denial of human life and gives its support to everything that would promote the natural order in the sphere of the institution of the family," he said in a reference to the Church opposition to all abortion.
He urged that children's lives be defended as "sacred and inviolable" with judicial, social and legislative support, and defended the "indissoluble love of a man and a woman" as the foundation of human life.
As Benedict distributed communion, tens of thousands of people outside lined up to receive the host from attending priests.
Later, outside the church's Nativity Facade depicting Christ's early years, he recited the Angelus prayer of devotion to masses of pilgrims, breaking into a smile at the conclusion as the crowd cheered.
Thick crowds had lined his route to the Basilica, most waving yellow-and-white Vatican flags as the cavalcade made its way from the city's Episcopal palace.
But not all welcomed the Pope's message on his weekend visit to Spain, which began on Saturday in the medieval cobbled streets of Santiago de Compostela, a draw for pilgrims for more than 1000 years.
Hundreds of gay men and women couples locked lips for five minutes as the Pope passed by, breaking off to shout "Get out," and "paedophile".
Read more: Anonym zu www.news.com.au/world/popes-spain-visit-rocked-by-gay-kiss-in-protest/story-e6frfkyi-1225949172766
