Cardinal
Danneels mengucapkan selamat kepada pemerintah Belgia karena melegalkan ‘perkawinan’
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September
23, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- A new biography about
Cardinal Godfried Danneels, former primate of Belgium, alleges that he
“congratulated” Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt when same-sex “marriage” was
made legal in the country in 2003. The book, which is coming out this week,
says that while the cardinal was opposed to calling homosexual unions
“marriages,” he expressed satisfaction over the disappearance of
“discrimination” against LGBT couples.
In an article presenting the forthcoming book by
Jürgen Mettepenningen and Karim Schelkens about Cardinal Danneels, who headed
the Catholic Church in Belgium from 1979 to 2010, De Standaard quoted their
allegation in its headlines on Friday, making Danneels’ approval of homosexual
unions the focal point of his office.
Jürgen Mettepenningen is a former Benedictine monk who
after having been ordained a deacon left his monastery in order to study
theology. He married and taught theology at the University of Louvain before
joining the diocese of Brussels as spokesman for Archbishop André Léonard; he
is now active in the Study Center of the Christian Democrats. His co-author,
Karim Schelkens, is a Church historian and Catholic theologian, who teaches
contemporary Church history at the University of Louvain in Belgium and in the
Tilburg University across the border in the Netherlands.
Well-respected in their own domain, Mettepenningen and
Schelkens can hardly be suspected of sensationalism.
In their biography of Cardinal Danneels, they affirm
that his congratulations about same-sex “marriage” reached Verhofstadt in the
form of a letter at the time when he had been called upon by the King to form a
cabinet shortly after the general election the Belgian liberal-democrats had
won in May 2003. Same-sex “marriage” had been voted into law in February of
that year and became effective on June 1.
Going out of his way to speak his satisfaction to the
new prime minister, the cardinal made clear that homosexual unions were “fine”
as far as he was concerned, so long as they were not called “marriage.” “He
wanted an end to discrimination between married ‘heteros’ and homos, lesbians
and bisexuals in a lasting relationship. As long as there was no confusion
about the use of the term ‘marriage,’” according to Mettepenningen and
Schelkens.
De Morgen, another Belgian daily, clarified
later on Friday that Verhofstadt says he does not remember the letter. “But I
never had problems with the Cardinal. Our relationship was a good one,” he
agreed.
Danneels’ biography covers the 30-year period during
which he was the leading bishop of Belgium. During those years, says De Standaard, the country was
secularized at a “phenomenal rate.” Churches emptied and the Christian-Democrats
lost their traditional influence over Belgian politics.
Belgium is now one of the most “progressive” countries
in the world. It was one of the first countries to legalize euthanasia,
together with the Netherlands but in more sweeping terms. It was also the
second country in the world to make same-sex “marriage” legal, one year after
the Netherlands, and it allows single women to obtain assisted reproduction.
Abortion was legalized relatively late in Belgium,
compared to its European neighbors, in 1990; Danneels is said to have tried at
the time to convince King Baudouin to sign the abortion bill into law even
though the monarch was deeply reluctant to go against his conscience in this
matter. The King was finally to step down for 36 hours, leaving the throne
“vacant,” so as not to be obliged to sign a text that had the approval of the
Belgian Parliament.
Cardinal Danneels has refused to comment on
allegations regarding his role in the abortion affair made by another
biographer, Peter-Jan Bogaert, in April this year.
Despite his age – 82 – and his record, Cardinal
Danneels is one of Pope Francis’ personal invitees to the Synod on the Family
next month. Archbishop Leonard, the current primate of Belgium, will not be in
Rome, having reached the age limit at 75.
The pro-life coalition Voice of the Family has
recently listed the many recent occasions when Cardinal Danneels has made
“progressive” statements regarding among others “sex education” and “homosexual
unions.” But it had not been known previously that he gave his moral
approval to those responsible for legalizing same-sex “marriage” at the time
the bill was passed.
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