Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict, 

“Gender Theory” 

and the Threat to Civilization

Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2012 Christmas address to the Roman Curia, warned against what is called “Gender theory.”  This theory, which coincides with the rise of homosexuality in society, claims there is no such thing as a God-given masculine nature or a feminine nature.  Individuals are free to choose and remake their gender.

The acceptance of such theories 

not only defies God and nature, 

but give rise to the persecution of Christians, 

and of anyone who opposes the pro-homosexual program, 

as will be later explained.

NATURE DEFINED

Pope Benedict warned regarding gender theory, “According to this philosophy, gender is no longer a given element of nature that a man has to accept and personally makes sense of it; [rather] it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society.”

In other others, those who promote gender theory falsely claim there was never any such thing as a masculine nature or a feminine nature that defines us since conception.  Rather society chose these gender roles for us.  Gender is not something that is found inside of man as part of his essence, but rather, is imposed from the outside.  We are now at the point where the individual decides these gender roles for himself.

“The profound falsehood of this theory, and of the anthropological revolution contained within it  is obvious,” says Benedict. “People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being.  They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but they make for themselves.”

The Pope then appeals to Genesis.

“According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature.  This duality [male and female] is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God.  This very duality as something given is what is now disputed.”

Benedict goes on to lament: “The words of the creation account: ‘male and female he created them’ (Gen 1:27) no long apply.  No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female – hitherto society did this, now we decided for ourselves.  Man and woman as created realities no longer exist.  Man calls his nature into question.  From now on he is merely spirit an will.”

This is a key point.  Truth and reality are no longer centered on man’s nature.  Rather, truth and reality are now centered on man’s will.  

If man wills to choose his gender, or act contrary to his gender, he must be free to do so.  Man chooses  his own false “reality”.

Benedict notes there is a general repugnance toward the misuse of nature when it comes to the world around us, yet many are willing to believe man may restructure his own nature.

“The manipulation of nature”, he writes, “which we deplore today where the environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned.

From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses for himself what his nature is to be.  Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed.”

THE FAMILY THREATENED

Pope Benedict then explains the disastrous  effects wrought on the family.

“But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation.”

Thus the family as God established, which is father, mother and children, can also be changed by human will.  Man will believe he can define the family any way he wants: two men and a son, tow women and a canary, three men, three women (as is already happening,) and almost any other aberration.

Benedict then warns of the consequences regarding children.  

“Likewise, the child has lost the place 

he had occupied hitherto and the dignity 

pertaining to him the child 

has become an object to which people 

have a right and which they have a right to obtain.”

This is an indirect reference to same-sex couples demanding the “right” to adopt children.

Pope Benedict then drives home the point: Gender theory is ultimately a revolt against God and man.  “When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God . . . 

When God is denied, human dignity also disappears.”

NORMAL PEOPLE BULLIED

The dignity of man is thus “stripped” when transgenderism becomes an accepted component of society. In the United States and elsewhere, there are parents who encourage young children to choose their own gender, encourage boys to adopt girl’s clothes and mannerisms, and vice versa.  Our children are also exposed to transgender men using girls’ bathrooms, and worse.

One of many examples: At Hillsboro High School in Missouri, early September 2015, a homosexual male student started to wear a wig and skirt, claimed to be female, called himself “Lila” and insisted on using the girls’ locker room.

The girls were rightly horrified.  Hundreds of students walked out in protest.  The boy’s response was to accuse these normal girls of bigotry.

“They are claiming that they’re uncomfortable,” said “Lila” to a local TV station, “I don’t believe for a second that they are.  I think this is pure and simple bigotry, I wasn’t hurting anyone and I didn’t want to feel segregated out.”

Predictably, the politically correct School Administration sided with the homosexual boy, who eventually dropped gym class, but continues to use the girl’s bathroom.

Worse, liberals across the United States defend “Lila” and denounce his classmates’ natural reaction.

Columnist Matt Walsh reports that hundreds of pro-homosexual activists are “organizing a counter protest . . . hoping to finally intimidate and silence any girl who might have the audacity to defy the transgender narrative that our culture just invented out of whole cloth about 14 seconds ago.  Indeed, approximately yesterday, “transgenderism” was a fringe, radical notion way out in the peripherals of left wing quackery, but now, in the blink of an eye, it is ‘doctrine.’  Yesterday, boys could be expelled for walking into the girls’ locker room, but now we throw them parades and squeal about their ‘bravery.’

Pope Benedict’s observation is correct.  When we defy nature, the Maker is necessarily denied, and man too is ultimately “stripped of his dignity as a creature of God.”

PERSECUTION AND  PUNISHMENT

The rise of homosexuality and transgenderism disorients society away from Our Lord Jesus Christ. It also leads to the persecution of those who want no part of the ever-growing homosexual ascendancy.

Why has this happened?  

Primarily due to the fact 

that over the past fifty years, 

too few of our Church leaders 

clearly reiterated the Divine warnings 

against this vice as expressed in Scripture and Magisterium.

It is rare to hear priests and prelates denounce this vice as a mortal sin that sends the soul to hell if not repented.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider

It is rare to hear a prelate speak clearly as does Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who explained that acceptance of homosexuality “contradicts directly the words of God, which says that homosexual acts and the homosexual lifestyle are a grievous offense against the will of God. (cf. Gen 18:20; Lev 18:22;20-13; Is 3:9; Rom 1:26-27; 1 Cor 6:10,  1 Tim 1:10; Jud 7)”

By approving this vice, we open the door to persecution against Christianity.  If homosexual unions, same-sex marriage and ‘transgenderism’ are declared basic human rights, then opposing these sins will be considered a crime by modern godless states.  Those who hold the truths of Our Lord can be fined or imprisoned.  Already in some places, quoting the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality is denounced as “hate speech”.

In March 2015, Tim Sweeney, a leader in pro-homosexual grant-making, told U.S. business leaders that he wants to shut down the political fight for [contra-homosexual] religious freedom exemptions in the U.S. within three years.

A Catholic News Agency examination 

of public grant listings and tax forms 

“has found at least six foundations and funds 

have made grants totaling about $4.8 million 

to target religious freedom, 

especially as it is exercised by objectors to gay marriage.”

The pro-homosexual lobby wants Christianity silenced, and spends millions to crush the Christian’s right to resist the public acceptance of the sin of Sodom.

This is but a glimpse of the massive anti-Christian revolution on the rise with recognition of homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.

A nation that embraces this vice cannot obtain the blessing of God, but only  His condemnation  

The prophet Isaiah writes: 

“Woe to those who all good evil and evil good.” (Isaiah 5:20)

Sacred Scripture likewise threatens fearful punishment on nations that accept homosexuality.  Saint Peter warned that God “condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, thus making an example to those in the future who should live wickedly.” (2 Peter 2:16)

Could this be a foreshadowing 

of the “annihilation of nations” 

warned by Our Lady of Fatima in 1917?

Our Lady of Fatima

Let us oppose the rise of these sins that “cry to Heaven for vengeance,” pray for the conversion of those trapped in this vice, and live the Fatima Message of prayer and daily Rosary.

Let us also beg the Pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as requested by Our Lady of Fatima, to obtain the promised period of peace, the triumph of the Immaculate Heart and avert Divine chastisement.

Article from The Fatima Center, U.S.A. – 17000 State Route 30, Constable, NY 12916; Canada – 452 Kraft Road, Fort Erie, ON L2A 4M7.  www.fatima.org --- Email:  info@fatima.org Telephone 1-905-871-7607