ATICAN CITY Pope John Paul on Sunday forcefully condemned a gay rights march in Rome as an "offence to Christian values" and
said the Catholic Church considered homosexual acts "against natural law".
The 80-year-old pope, speaking to tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St Peter's Square, repeated that the church considered homosexuality "objectively disordered". His remarks were expected to cause a storm of protest from gay activists, who had been hoping that Saturday's world gay pride march, attended by at least 70,000 people, could serve as an olive branch in thorny relations with the church.
"In the name of the Church of Rome, I must express sadness for the affront to the great jubilee of the year 2000 and the offence to
Christian values of a city that is so dear to the heart of Catholics of the whole world," the pope said, adding that the church "could not keep quiet about the truth" and read a church law calling homosexuality "objectively disordered".
(Reuter)
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