Gay groups slam Pope's claim
Updated on 23 December 2008
The Pope has said saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
Lesbian and gay Christians have denounced the claim which was given in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration.
He said the church should protect man from the "destruction of himself", saying that tropical rainforests deserved protection but man as a creature "does not deserve any less".
The Pope added: "The tropical forests do deserve our protection; but man, as a creature, does not deserve any less."
Chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, the Rev Sharon Ferguson, described his remarks as "totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form."
She said: "It is more the case that we need to be saved from his comments. It is comments like that that justify homophobic bullying that goes on in schools and it is comments like that that justify gay bashing."
Rev Ferguson continued: "There are still so many instances of people being killed around the world, including in western society, purely and simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity.
"When you have religious leaders like that making that sort of statement then followers feel they are justified in behaving in an aggressive and violent way because they feel that they are doing God's work in ridding the world of these people."
The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual orientation is not a sin but homosexual acts are. It opposes civil partnerships and gay marriage.
As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope said homosexual inclination was not a sin, but it represented a "more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil".
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