Cardinal refuses to withdraw statement
Image via WikipediaThe Cardinal Archbishop of Mexico City is refusing to retract his statements condemning homosexual behavior, despite a complaint filed against him with the federal government's National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Contrapred).
Multiple complaints before various government agencies were filed in August against Rivera, his spokesman Hugo Valdemar, and Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez by Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard and fellow members of the socialist Party of the Democratic Revolution in response to statements they made denouncing the homosexualist and abortionist policies of the Mexico City government and the nation's Supreme Court.
The complaint filed against Rivera with Contrapred is based on his statement denouncing the Supreme Court's approval of homosexual "marriage," calling it an "immoral legal reform," and declaring that the Catholic Church "cannot cease to call evil, evil."
"Such immoral activity can never be the equivalent of the sexual expression of conjugal love, because it endangers the dignity and the rights of the family that constitute the common good of the society," he added.
"Such immoral activity can never be the equivalent of the sexual expression of conjugal love, because it endangers the dignity and the rights of the family that constitute the common good of the society," he added.
In his official response to the complaint, Rivera maintains his ground, saying that his statements on homosexual "marriage" and adoption cannot be compromised because "our posture emanates from our religious creed, that is, from our conscience," according to quotes published in the Mexico City newspaper Milenio.
Rivera reportedly denies the accusation of "discrimination," and says that his statements made "use of religious liberty," a right protected under the Mexican Constitution's Article 24. The government, he says, "cannot censure nor diminish our religious liberty."
When "a person expresses his opposition, following the doctrine of his religion, to a particular regulation or reform," writes Rivera, "it is not possible to limit his religious liberty, and for that reason the minister of worship or layman has the right to express his opinions regarding religious matters, as long as they do not attack the security, order, health or public morals, or the rights or liberties of others" - conditions he says his statements have met.
