Catholic World News News Feature

Belgian cardinal to be sued for remarks on homosexuality January 26, 2004

The 80-year-old Belgian cardinal who was quoted last week as saying that most homosexuals are sexual perverts and not "effectively lesbian or gay" may be facing a lawsuit under discrimination laws.

Cardinal Gustaaf Joos told a Belgian magazine, "I am willing to write in my own blood that of all those who call themselves lesbian or gay, a maximum of five to 10 percent are effectively lesbian or gay. All the rest are just sexual perverts." He added, "Real homosexuals don't wander in the streets in colorful suits. Those are people who have a serious problem and have to live with that. And if they make a mistake they will be forgiven. We have to help these people and not judge them." He also repeated the Church's teaching that while homosexuality is a sin, Christians do not reject homosexuals as persons.

On Saturday, the Reuters news service reported that the Center for Equal Opportunities and Struggle against Racism said it would sue the cardinal for violating anti-discrimination laws. "The case was made worse by the fact that the cardinal stood by his comments, not apologizing and repeating them elsewhere in the media and in front of cameras," it said in the statement published on its website (www.antiracisme.be).

The Belgian bishops' conference said Cardinal Joos was speaking in a private capacity and that it did not have the power to reprimand the cardinal because he was answerable directly to the Vatican.

Earlier this month, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid was sued in his native Spain by a homosexual activist group for preaching against homosexuality in a homily on the Feast of the Holy Family.