Via RASSF:
Vatican urges Israel to ban Jerusalem gay parade
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican has condemned a gay pride parade due to be held in Jerusalem on Friday as offensive to religious believers and urged Israeli authorities to stop it taking place.
“It is with bitterness that we have learned that the day after tomorrow, November 10, 2006, there is scheduled in Jerusalem a so-called ‘gay pride parade’,” the Vatican said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
In a letter to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the Vatican urged authorities to withdraw permission for the parade which is expected to attract up to 8,000 people.
“The Holy See has reiterated on many occasions that the right to freedom of expression, sanctioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is subject to just limits, in particular when the exercise of this right would offend the religious sentiments of believers,” the letter said.
I loved the last passage in particular.
What a jerk this pope is (or the papacy in general is?) – there is no right not to be offended, whether for any one individual, one religion, or (ignoring large numbers of believers of each of the three who don’t care) a group of three religions. And the only “just limits” I can think of are a matter of speech that puts others at real threat of harm (such as the classic example of “yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater”)