GAY PRIDE MARCH "AN OFFENSE TO CHRISTIAN VALUES"

VATICAN CITY, JUL 9, 2000 (VIS) - Speaking from his study window before today's angelus, Pope John Paul said he "had to mention the well-known demonstrations which took place in Rome in recent days," referring to the week-long gay pride meetings and the march through Rome on Saturday. "In the name of the Church of Rome, I can only express bitterness for the affront to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and for the offense to the Christian values of a city so dear to the hearts of Catholics throughout the world."

"The Church," he continued, "cannot silence the truth, because she would fail in her fidelity to God the Creator and would not help in discerning what is good from what is evil.

"I would like, in this regard, just to read what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says. After pointing out that homosexual acts are contrary to the natural law, it states: 'The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition'."

In other remarks which preceded the angelus prayer today, the Holy Father spoke of his "joy at meeting the inmates of Regina Coeli prison, during their jubilee. It was a touching moment of prayer and humanity. I sought to understand, reading their eyes, the sufferings, anxieties and hopes of each one. In them I knew I was meeting Christ who identified with them in the Gospel when he said 'I was in prison and you came to find me'."

The Pope referred to his Message for the Jubilee in Prisons when he "asked that, precisely for the Holy Year, a sign of clemency be offered to prisoners. Above all I asked the legislators of the entire world to re-think the prison system, as well as the penal system, aiming to make them more respectful of human dignity, in line with a redeeming justice for the guilty and not only reparation for the disorder caused by the crime. In fact, all those who have made mistakes must be helped to undertake a path of moral redemption and personal and community growth, with a view to a valid reinsertion into society."

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