Feminist groups report Catholic cardinal over ‘hate crime’
Spanish feminist groups are asking the government to prosecute Cardinal Antonio Cañizares for encouraging a criminal act
Cañizares, the current Archbishop of Valencia, denounced the influence of a “gay empire” and gender ideology, Crux reports.
While delivering a homily on May 13, Cañizares said: “The family is being stalked today, in our culture, by endlessly grave difficulties, while it suffers serious attacks, which are hidden from no one.
“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.
“When the family is attacked or is diminished, the most sacred forms of human relationship are perverted.”
Members of the Feminist Platform of Alicante formally requested the Spanish government prosecute Cañizares for “inciting discrimination and hatred”.
Lambda, the LGBT collective of Valencia and the Collective for the Sexual-Affective Diversity are among other organisations that have said they would also like to file an official complaint with the Office of Hate Crimes.
The groups want the cardinal charged with “apologia”, a term in Spanish law for encouraging or defending a criminal act.
In response, the cardinal published his homily in full, along with a note asking: “Is it homophobic to defend the family?”
He also asked “objective” lawyers to assess its content and decide whether what he said is “against the law” or homophobic.
Last month, a senior Catholic cardinal rallied against LGBT rights in a Washington DC prayer breakfast, telling lawmakers that trans people are “demonic” and gay unions are a danger to society.
