POPE PROTESTERS SHOW ANTI-CATHOLIC HAND

At 1:00 pm on Saturday, October 7, a protest march against Pope John Paul II will commence at Bryant Park and proceed to Columbus Circle. Some protesters are already planning to break away from the scheduled route and proceed directly to St. Patrick’s Cathedral; the Pope is scheduled to recite the Rosary there at 3:30 pm.

According to Annie Keating of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), the planned demonstration against Pope John Paul II “is not anti-pope or anti-Catholic.” However, the Catholic League is in possession of posters and planning documents that show otherwise.

Posters are being placed throughout New York that show a goggle-eyed picture of the Pope (his eyes are replaced with spirals that look like a target), calling for protesters to join the march. The sponsoring organization is the Lesbian and Gay Papal Visit Coalition, which is actually a front for ACT-UP. On one piece of literature, the Pope is labeled “The Foremost Symbol of Religious Superstition, Intolerance and Bigotry.”

From Baltimore, protesters are asking marchers to make “Pope-Go Home” signs and are distributing literature which says, “Show ‘His Silliness’ that the United States is NOT part of the ‘Holy Roman Empire of 1995.”’

Catholic League president William Donohue released the following statement on this development:

“The Catholic League supports the right of all protesters to criticize the Catholic Church on any matter they like, just so long as the dissent does not spill over into insult or disparagement. Regrettably, this has already happened, even though the Pope has not yet arrived in New York.

“Those who are planning to disparage the Pope are ACT-UP, American Atheists and NARAL. It is they who organized a meeting on Tuesday at the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Greenwich Village, and it is they who have an agenda against the Catholic Church. The Catholic League will monitor these groups as they proceed and will alert the public to their conduct. ”

The Catholic League is the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. It defends the right of Catholics—lay and clergy alike—to participation in American life without defamation or discrimination.