A feminist organization is calling on the Spanish government to prosecute a Catholic Cardinal for allegedly “inciting discrimination and hatred.” His crime? Criticizing gender theory.
The Archbishop of Valencia, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, has come under fire for condemning the encroachment of what he called the “gay empire” on family values and inciting Catholics to disobey laws grounded in gender ideology, during a sermon delivered last month.
“The family is being stalked today, in our culture, by endlessly grave difficulties, while it suffers serious attacks, which are hidden from no one,” said Cañizares in the May 13 homily.
“We have legislation contrary to the family, the acts of political and social forces, to which are added movements and acts by the gay empire, by ideologies such as radical feminism, or the most insidious of all, gender ideology,” he said.
“When the family is attacked or is diminished, the most sacred forms of human relationship are perverted,” he added.
On Friday, members of the Spanish feminist organization Feminist Platform of Alicante filed an official request to government asking that Cañizares be prosecuted for fomenting hatred toward women and gays. They were accompanied by representatives of the Left, including the leader of the left-wing political party Podemos’ Alicante branch, Rita Bosaho.
The group’s coordinator, Yolanda Diaz, told El Diaro that feminists were “tired of the impunity of Church leaders” who continue to preach “discriminatory gender stereotypes.“
“We ask the administration and the prosecutor’s office not to leave those comments unpunished,” she continued.
As the New York Times rightly noted recently, European countries have always maintained a more repressive policy on hate and political speech than the United States. Both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe, for example, grant freedom of speech to all, provided it does not amount to racial, or religious hatred or direct incitement to violence. Yet there is not a universally agreed upon definition of hate speech, leaving room for liberal interpretations and applications of such laws at the domestic level.
The controversial sermon kicked off a very public war between the Cardinal and the governor of Valencia, Ximo Puig. The latter accused Cañizares of dogmatism and chided him for failing to convey Pope Francis’ message of tolerance, even citing the Pope’s controversial “Who am I to judge?” statement — a comment the Pope made in reference to homosexuals two years ago, when asked about the status of gay people in the Church.
Cardinal Cañizares has since responded to his critics, invoking the persecution of Catholic Clergy under the Francoist regime.
“I have the utmost respect for those people and their dignity,” he said in reference to homosexuals, before asking, “Is it homophobic to defend the family?”
