Pope Benedict Blesses Speaker of Ugandan Parliament, Who Promised Anti-Gay Bill as "Christmas Gift" to Ugandan People

Well.  Isn't this spayshul?

Benedict, who has kept his mouth shut utterly about the kill-the-gays bill in Uganda, has just given his blessing to the speaker of the Ugandan parliament Rebecca Kadaga, who promised some weeks ago to get the bill through the Ugandan parliament as a "Christmas gift" to the Ugandan people.  

Jim Burroway has done yeoman's work at Box Turtle Bulletin covering the Ugandan story for a long time now.  As he and others including Warren Throckmorton and Jeff Sharlett have reported for quite some time, extremist figures of the American religious right have been thickly involved at the very center of the homophobic mess in Uganda for some years--stirring the mess and seeking to export American-style homophobia to African nations.  

It's this mess-stirring that many folks will (rightly, I believe) see the pope blessing, as Speaker Kadaga kneels before him and obtains his blessing.

What was it that the Catechism of the Catholic Church used to say about respect, compassion, and sensitivity blahblahemptywordsblahblahblah?  I've somehow forgotten the exact words.

Thanks to a good reader of this blog for emailing this deeply disturbing news to me.

The graphic is from the Ugandan parliament website via Box Turtle Bulletin.