Catholic League president William Donohue commented today on what is ailing some critics of the Catholic Church:

“It is nothing short of remarkable that some of the nation’s leading critics of the Catholic Church can hold diametrically opposing positions on the same subject without ever seeming to notice.  In this regard, demands that the Church needs to involve itself more in the public affairs of society manage to coexist with equally fervent calls for it to recede from public life.  What matters is the issue, not principle.  Consider today’s column in theLos Angeles Times by Robert Scheer.

“Scheer takes President Bush to task for not taking his cues on the Iraqi War from Pope John Paul II.  He asks why ‘journalists and politicians ignore[d] the pontiff’s opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq?’  He also says of the pope, ‘It hardly honors the man to ignore his impassioned statements on what he considered to be a great moral crisis.’  Now had the subject been abortion or gay marriage, is there anyone who doubts that Scheer would never have written this sentence?  What makes this really schizophrenic, however, is the fact that Scheer began his journalism career in the 1960s blasting Cardinal Francis Spellman, Archbishop of New York, for his so-called meddling in the Vietnam war.

“Scheer is not alone.  During the presidential election campaign last year, the pundits hammered the Catholic Church to death because some bishops publicly addressed abortion, euthanasia, marriage and the family.  They were repeatedly warned, by the champions of free speech, not to exercise their First Amendment right to freedom of speech when such subjects were on the table.  But if a bishop were to speak against capital punishment, or in favor of an increase in the minimum wage, these same persons wanted the bishops to grab a bullhorn and lecture the faithful.

“As the conclave draws near, watch for more of this incredible public display of cognitive dissonance.  It is one of the hallmarks of the Left.”

Thoraya Obaid, the head of the U.N. Population Fund, admonished the Vatican today to change its teachings on condoms.  Speaking of the need for the Catholic Church to endorse condom use, she said, “We are hoping  the new pope will take this message further, because it makes no sense sending people to their death.”  She urged the Church to adopt a “morally correct decision” on how to stop HIV.

Catholic League president William Donohue spoke to this issue today:

 “Is there anyone on the planet who doesn’t know about the alleged wonders of condoms?  Yet, it is indisputably true that as condom use has increased, so have sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s).  This is not to say that condom use causes STD’s, but it is to say that condom use has not prevented the explosion in STD’s.  And this is because the same culture that prizes sexual license—in all its expressions—is morally incapable of sending a message of restraint.

“If Thoraya Obaid is truly concerned about HIV in Africa, she should get the U.N. to endorse the teachings of the Catholic Church on matters sexual.  That is because the only real success story on that continent is Uganda, a nation that has tailored its anti-HIV strategy to the wisdom of Catholic sexual ethics.  According to Edward C. Green, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, ‘basic behavioral changes in Uganda of 1987-95 have kept HIV prevalence declining up until now.’  The reason why the progress that has been made is now in jeopardy has more to do with dropping the emphasis on abstinence, he says, in exchange for a more condom-centered approach.

“Obaid is not only wrong on the issue, she is wrong on the cause of deaths due to AIDS.  It is near impossible for anyone to die of AIDS (save for a blood transfusion) who follows the teachings of the Catholic Church on sexuality.  It is not the Catholic Church that is causing Africans to die—or is responsible for a new strain of HIV among homosexuals in New York City—it is behavioral recklessness.”

Catholic League president William Donohue remarked as follows:

“The storm is about to hit.  For the most part, anti-Catholic bigots and the disaffected dissidents within the Church have been quiet.  What they have been waiting for is about to happen: the week between the end of the mourning and the beginning of the conclave is upon us.  And that means the Left is ready to explode.

“Consider what we’ve heard already.  Amidst the mostly favorable coverage by the media of Pope John Paul II, he has been branded as follows: an authoritarian who seeks to silence dissent; the enemy of homosexuals; a misogynist; a polarizing figure; a man who is out of touch with the modern world; a contributor to death due to AIDS in Africa; responsible for the sexual abuse scandal; and so on.

“And we’ve heard a CBS newsperson blast the pope for ruling the Church with ‘an iron fist’ (this was said between the final four basketball games on Saturday); the JewishForward  said whatever good he did may be undermined by his ‘battles around the world for sexual repressiveness and against reproductive freedom’; the Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis posted a sign on its property saying, ‘ALL WELCOME, CHRIST IS ALIVE, THE POPE IS DEAD’; the president of the J. Paul Getty Trust commented on ‘the spectacle of grotesquerie and human ruin that has lately filled the balcony above St. Peter’s Square’; Christopher Hitchens said he was ‘part of the coverup and obstruction of justice’ attendant to the homosexual scandal; Sister Helen Prejean, who is soft on abortion, took him to task for not changing his mind soon enough on capital punishment (and in doing so managed to misrepresent his pronouncements on the subject—the pope never said it was an intrinsic evil like abortion); and a website called ‘HillaryNow,’ operated by Robert Kunst, said that when the pope went to Israel, he ordered an ambulance to follow him so that in the event he needed a transfusion, he would not have to access ‘Jewish blood.’

“But this is nothing.  Many have been waiting for this moment for more than a quarter century.  When they lose again, watch out.”

Catholic League president William Donohue released the following statement on Bill O’Reilly today:

“Last night on TV, Bill O’Reilly took the New York Times to task for op-ed articles in Tuesday’s newspaper that amounted to ‘a counterattack against the late pontiff.’  He said the Times ‘ran a couple of opinion columns saying that the pope was an autocratic guy who may have hurt his own church and that the Polish people love the pope but don’t listen to him.’ (My emphasis.)  He was referring to a screed by Thomas Cahill and a mostly flattering piece by Stefan Chwin, respectively.

“Ironically, O’Reilly’s condemnation of the New York Times means that he has indicted himself.  Here is what O’Reilly said on his radio show of March 5, 2003: ‘I have never liked this pope.  I have always felt he was an autocrat who had no vision about how people live in the real world.’ (Again, my emphasis.)  The year before, O’Reilly called the pope ‘an authoritarian guy,’ proving that his contempt for the pope is long standing.  And on the same radio show that he called the pope an ‘autocrat,’ O’Reilly questioned whether anyone was listening to him anymore: ‘Now is anybody going to listen to him?’

“Thus, O’Reilly has no business lecturing anyone about bashing the pope—he’s done a yeoman job himself.  Indeed, it is hypocritical of him to now feign anger at co

Catholic League president William Donohue released the following statement today on the death of Pope John Paul II:

“Karol Wojtyla was an intellectual, actor, philosopher, athlete and human-rights advocate, but above all, he was a priest.  That is what defined him more than anything else—he was a priest in service to the Lord.

“Having traveled to over 100 nations, and having reached out to the members of all the world’s religions, he managed to touch people in a way very few have.  It is only fitting that someday he will be known as John Paul the Great, making him only the third pontiff in history to be bestowed this honorific title.

“Pope John Paul II will be remembered for many things, but at this time it is important to recall his signature statement, ‘Be Not Afraid.’  It was in his first homily as pope in 1978 that John Paul broached this phrase, and it is one that he restated thousands of times over during his papacy.  That these were not empty words can be disputed by no one: consider what happened after he told millions of his fellow countrymen in Poland one year later, ‘Do not be afraid to tell the truth.’

“John Paul II’s unyielding commitment to speaking the truth will surely prove to be one of his most enduring legacies.  In a world where moral relativism runs rampant, and the lies of postmodernist thought are trumpeted, nothing could be more countercultural that the pope’s speeches and writings on the existence of an objective moral order.  His courage, along with his intellectual acumen, was astounding.

“It is only just that we remember Pope John Paul II for what he was, and will always be—a role model for the world.”