Cardinal Jorge Medina, Archbishop Emeritus of Valparaiso, has incurred the wrath of Chilean homosexuals for restating clearly the Catholic Church’s teaching that homosexual tendencies constitute a disorder.
In response to the legalization of gay “marriage” in Argentina, Medina commented that “the homosexual tendency is a defect, as when a person is lacking an eye or a foot.” He also stated that if homosexual “marriage” were to be raised as an issue in Chile, the bishops would fight it.
Medina added that, just as alcoholics can be rehabilitated, so can homosexuals, and that he personally knows people who have been cured of their homosexual urges.
The comments were made at the opening of the newly restored Our Lady of Sorrows church in the town of Villa del Mar on July 25th, and reflect the Catholic Church’s traditional doctrine that homosexual sex acts are sinful, and therefore an attraction to committing such actions is, in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “intrinsically disordered.”
Alejandro Goic, of Chile’s Movement for Homosexual Liberation and Integration (MOVILH), responded to the cardinal’s remarks, calling them “clearly offensive” and asking the Chilean bishop’s conference to clarify if the teaching is shared by the bishops of the country.
