Pope "Kick Gays Out or we Leave"

Pope Tells Protestant Churches To Bar Gays

by Malcolm Thornberry 365Gay.com European Bureau Chief

(Vatican City) Pope John Paul on Saturday warned Protestant churches that
liberal views toward homosexuality would result in the Vatican withdrawing from
ecumenism.

The Pope's remarks came during a service to mark the 40th anniversary of
the Second Vatican Council which led the Catholic Church into a period of
ecumenism with other Christian Churches.

"Unfortunately, we are faced with new problems, especially those of an
ethical nature, where new divisions which impede a common witness have
sprouted," he said.

Seven-thousand people attended the service in St Peter's Basilica,
including representatives of Anglican and Protestant Churches as well as members
of the Orthodox Church, which split from Rome in the Great Schism of 1054.

The Pope's warning was seen as particularly threatening to the Anglican
Church which broke away from Rome in 1534 but which in recent times has made
overtures of reconciliation.

Anglicans are divided over the election of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson
in the American wing of Anglicanism.

A report to the leader of the worldwide Anglican faith last month called
for the Episcopal Church, the American name for Anglicanism, to apologize for
Robinson's elevation, and it chastised Canadian Anglicans for allowing the
blessings of same-sex relationships.