HOW nice! The Catholic Church – arguably the world’s biggest single contributor to the spread of HIV/AIDS through its continued opposition to condom use – is to create a patron saint for those afflicted by the disease.
According to this report, the unofficial patron saint of those with HIV/AIDS – Rev Damien de Veuster – will be proclaimed a saint on October 11 at a ceremony in Rome.
Portrait of a young Father Damien
Known as “Father Damien”, the Belgian priest spent more than 15 years caring for lepers on the island of Molokai, Hawaii, and died there of leprosy aged 49 in 1889.
Pope John Paul II declared Damien “Blessed” in 1995, after recognising as “miraculous” the cure of a French nun who had prayed to the late priest only a few years after his death. A second “miracle”, occurring after beatification, was required for his canonisation as a saint.
Last year, Pope Ratzi recognised as “miraculous” a Hawaiian woman’s recovery from lung cancer after she prayed for Damien’s intercession. The case was the subject of an article in the Hawaii Medical Journal in 2000.
Statues of Damien, who is also considered the patron saint of Hawaii, stand in both the US Capitol in Washington and the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu.
According to Wikipedia:
In both ecumenical religious and non-sectarian communities, Damien is being adopted as the symbol of how society should treat HIV/AIDS patients in defiance of the misconceptions of the disease, much like leprosy treatment was an outgrowth of misconceptions and poor treatment of lepers. Several Damien Centers have been established worldwide to serve people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
February 25th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
The hypocrisy of it all…. truly, truly tasteless.
One of the most offensive things I’ve read all week. Exactly the type of crass stupidity I’d expect from the church.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Yep, takes the wafer for double standards. I particularly like the way a miracle or two have been properly verified – evidence weighed, facts sifted and so on. Are Popes eligible for jury service?
February 25th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Couldn’t the Pope, instead of fussing around appointing saints, not just ask God to instantly cure AIDS/HIV? The Pope’s meant to be his appointed representative, I’m sure God’ll listen if he asks REAL nicely. I know Gods’ busy, but he IS omnipotent, surely it just take a wave of his hand and izzy wizzy let’s get busy, millions of lives are saved!
Wouldn’t that just be less work in the long run? Wouldn’t that make more sense?
I wonder if the Pope has a suggestions box.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
I’m almost speechless with rage to read this. The Pope is an accessory to genocide.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
There’s going to be a Saint Damien?
You’d think the 666 tattooed on the back of his head would have been a subtle clue that all’s not well.
Doesn’t that Teutonic twat watch ANY films?
February 25th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Great! Ignore all evidence about the safety of condoms, but spread lies about them and appoint a saint for people who suffer from AIDS. “Using condoms is a sin, but if you happen to catch some kind of disease, here’s our saint Damien. Pray for his help, it might even help! If not, have a nice death!”
February 25th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
At least, this seems to be a first step. The waited one is to promote the use of comdons to prevent HIV. May the pope read a review like this to learn a bit on AIDS: AIDS.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Just a matter of time before monseigneur Allen (remember him) becomes the patron saint of cervical cancer.
February 25th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I thought Ratzis boys hated fags and would have thought HIV some sort of devine retribution. Surely the patron saint should have been the biochemist that tweaked the genes of the simian immunodeficiency virus so it would infect a bloke next time he f***ed a monkey.
February 25th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Although I am not a Roman Catholic, How does a church that teaches against promiscuous sex and only advocates sex in the context of a loving faithful marriage contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS?
I would suggest the spread of HIV/AIDS is a symptom of a world that advocates selfish behaviour. AIDS Spread in the west in the very promiscuous Homosexual community and the Intravenous Drug Users because they put their selfish desires before their health.
Your secular society pushes promiscuous sex, sexualises children, I don’t see many Christian children walking about with ‘SEXY CHIC’ across their bottoms in sequins.
Once again you atheists like to push all the ills of the world on the church, when in fact most problems in the modern world can be traced to a secular system that denighs GOD.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Max
Your god can’t help you now!
No right minded society advocates promiscuous sex. You xians don’t own the moral high ground.
The kids you describe are the spawn of chavs who should be drowned in a bucket anyway.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
So Alun your a Fascist then?
Drowning those whose values you don’t agree with!
February 25th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Max
Come off your high horse.
Humourless as well as recessive superstitious traits.
February 25th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Max or are you really that irritating xtian idiot Bob? As expected from a sky fairy worshipper, there is no logic or reasoning in your post, just the usual rhetoric. By the way this is how you spell “deniesâ€
February 25th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
One more thing Max on the subject of Facism.
If you were a member of the Waffen SS in (R)Nazi Germany you would have had the phrase, “Gott Mit Uns” inscribed on your belt buckle.
That would have made an American baptist glow with pride.
Oh, and I assume you got a “F” in GCSE English? Or is it difficult to press buttons once the laudanum kicks in?
February 25th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Max – what a stupid sanctimonious view you have – get an education.
The vast majority of AIDS cases are in the developing world, in societies devasted by terrible poverty – its not a threat to any industrialised secular society, rather, xtian africa – exactly because of lack of education and the spread xtian stupidity thru threats and manipulation and lies, = the same school of thought your vile arrogance shows.
Why are you obsessed by gays by the way?
Anyway – lack of barrier contraception in these devastated societies, ruined by missionaries with their vulgar brainwashing – contributes to overpopulation as well as AIDS, which makes the poverty worse – for which the pope is the most culpable man on earth.
That ranks the nazi prick right up there with hitler in terms of bodycount.
February 25th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Shargraves,
Why are people in the developing world being infected with HIV/AIDS?
Is it because they are having promiscuous sex outside of a loving relationship, mulitple partners?
Both of which the Church and the bible teaches against!
By the way do you believe in Evolution?
February 25th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Max
Didn’t xians drown innocent women accused of witchcraft up to the 1600′s? You must yearn for puritan England.
You refute Shargraves’ point but it all comes down to educating our young people, not indoctrinating them from a book of fables. Xians don’t know how to f**k anyway.
February 25th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
The puritans were pious, loving people who were themselves persecuted by the Anglican Church. You derive your history from Hollywood.
If you knew anything about the Puritans you would understand that they were hardworking, honest people.
February 25th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Max – you disgust me – your immorality and lack of human compassion is clear. You are sex obsessed and massively ignorant.
The church preaches no contraception because the church has ulterior motives! The church wants as many people as possible contributing money no matter how poor they are.
Its a corrupt racket that retards like you fall for.
In poverty stricken countries – its the most appalling humanitarian abuse of life and dignitty – just like threats of hell to the non-educated societies that the church invaded with their perversion.
fyi – Evolution doesn’t require belief – as it happens whether you know about it or not.
You are a something of a brainwashed moron. Its not an insult – merely an observation.
February 25th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Shargraves,
Do you always abuse those who have a different world view than you. Words first violence next, thats normally how it goes.
My point about evolution is…
If you believe in evolution, (I don’t) then you have to admit that HIV/AIDS is just a form of natural selection. As was Hitler or Stalin or even the Church.
So which way do you want it?
You can’t really dance both sides of the fence.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Huh???
Abuse? The human rights abuses that the church preaches and other organised religions advocate are legion.
I dont advocate violence only education.
As for the rest of your post? WTF?
Again I advocate education as I think you need help.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Alun, us christians are the ones with all the children, I think we know how to have lasting, fulfilling sex lives, we know how to keep our women happy and sexually fulfilled for decades. We don’t need latex toys or takky underwear. We now how to come together as one flesh.
Read the Song of Solomon and you will understand how we do that.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Max, has anyone ever explained the facts of life to you? No? Let me have a go.
When you use the phase “a loving faithful marriage” I take it you mean the union between one man and one woman, and that you regard all other unions invalid. Your narrow Christian definition would, I guess, rule out the union between one man and FOUR women, which is a perfectly valid arrangement in Islam.
It would also – I suspect from your vile, anti-gay rants – also rule out same-sex unions, which have been celebrated by people since the dawn of civilisation in places across the globe ranging from Sparta to China, Japan and the USA, where native Americans once regarded themselves blessed by having gay and lesbians in their tribes. That is, until Christianity came to their shores, and comprehensively destroyed the tolerance that laid at the heart of their societies. (see http://rictornorton.co.uk/marriage.htm).
From this it is clear that the Christian “model” marriage is just one of many forms of union that humankind, in all its diversity, has to choose from. What suits one couple does not necessarily suit another. There is no one-size-fits-all, and it would be stupid to pretend otherwise.
And what of people who not to marry or bond at all? Are they to be denied the pleasures of sex?
I was going to pull you up on the garbage you spouted about AIDS, but Shargraves has more than adequately done that job for me.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Shargraves,
Education?
Lets remember where the universities came from.
Where the first schools came from.
Who funded the great Art of the renaisance.
After the reformation, it was the protestant churches that advocated religious freedom for all whatever your creed. It was the same reformers who facilitated the enlightenment.
Who set up a network of social care before the welfare state? The Church.
Who set up the first Hospitals?
The Church.
I would suggest if you could only see past your predjudice toward the church then you would see that with out the church we would not have our legal system which is based on Judea/Christian law, we would not have our stable societies, only now are we seeing the fruits of fifty years of the secularisation of our societies, banks collapsing, neighbours not talking, the me culture.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
All the children? All poor, ignorant and pregnant more like. Sounds a bit islamic don’t you think?
I’ve got two kids, that’s my limit both financially and morally. My missus is not some bitch on a West Wales puppy farm sh***ing out litter after litter of demented religious morons to swell the faith.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Let me ask you a question?
Barry Duke,
Considering t=you are so knowledgable, what is the average lifespan of a Homosexual in the USA compared to that of a heterosexual?
Still think it’s a healthy lifestyle choice?
February 25th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Bitch?
Alun you really have a low view of women don’t you.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
oh! Church is responsible for education??? That backfired though.
We outgrew it a few centuries ago… D’oh! You had me going for a bit there you sick homophobic bastard – this is a wind up!
No one can be that much of a prick for real.
Don’t feed the troll.
February 25th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Max
My life is egalitarian, as such all my females relatives have a status equal to mine.
I realise that is anthema to all xians/koranimals. My missus stays with me because she wants to. Not because she’s compelled by some religious dogma.
Anyway, that’s me, How ’bout you? Are you a rounded individual or are your reflective moments limited to impure thoughts and a moments’ release onto a gummy picture of Thora Hurd?
February 26th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Max, you asked me what the average lifespan of a homosexual in the US was. The answer is I don’t know – but more to the point, neither do you as no research appears to have been done on the subject.
Oh wait – of course it has! By a crazy fundie called Paul Cameron, of the Family Research Institute, who, after applying some junk science formula to some obituaries he read, came up with a figure of 42. Despite the fact that his research was comprehensively discredited in the 1990s, this figure continues to be bandied about by Christian conservative organisations as “fact”.
That said, I shouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to learn that the average age of a homosexual in areas dominated by red-neck fundamentalists and idiots like you is just 16. For it is in religious environments that gay teenage suicides are at their highest.
No, how about doing me the courtesy of answering the questions I originally posed to you?
February 26th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Max,
Citing Paul Cameron? Epic fail. Try learning some real facts instead of crap spouted by anti-gay idiots who have been ousted from every professional organization for fraudulent practices. And if you consider turning your women into mere brood-sows “keeping them sexually fulfilled” you’re not only a bigot but an idiot.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:24 am
A question to the lovers of science.
Are desease, war, famine, murder, rape, theft a part of natural selection?
And a footnote.
Why do you so called free thinkers who thrive on debate, continue to wholesale abuse and villify those who do not agree with your world view.
Is rudeness also a part of natural selection.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:27 am
Barry, are you seriously denighing that the lifespan of a Homosexual is considerably lower than that of a heterosexual?
Think about it, they have more earning potential, less people to feed, clothe and care for with no immediate off spring, but they still die considerably younger.
Natural selection at work again maybe when applying your flawed concept of evolution.
February 26th, 2009 at 5:41 am
February 26th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Evolution is weeding out the xians.
I love it when someone describes themself as a “committed christian”. My immediate thought is one of humour such as, “Which institution were you committed to?”.
When common sense returns I make a mental note to avoid that person in future.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Oh, the irony…
February 26th, 2009 at 7:53 am
I see Max was posting into the small hours. He either lives outside GMT or just couldn’t resist bashing the bishop over a pic of jesus in a loincloth. I suppose his character in “Jerry Springer, the Opera” appeals to a number of fetishes.
I couldn’t stay up that late, work in the morning. Us taxpayers have churches and islamic schools to fund you know. And the dwarf that trims Rowan Williams’ beard.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:28 am
“Are you seriously denighing (sic) that the lifespan of a Homosexual is considerably lower than that of a heterosexual?â€
No, Max, nor am I confirming it because not enough credible research into the subject has been done. However, enough research has been carried out to show that statistically, black males in America have a lower lifespan than their white counterparts.
“African Americans have a shorter life expectancy than any other racial group in America except Native Americans, and black men fare even worse than black women. Some of it can be chalked up to poverty, the most powerful determinant of health, or to lifestyle factors. But even when all those factors are accounted for in studies, the gap stubbornly persists. Now researchers are beginning to examine discrimination itself. Racism, more than race, may be cutting black men down before their time.†(Source, LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/20.....blackmen24)
If homosexual men DO have a lower lifespan, it quite likely that the root cause is rampant homophobia – racism’s kissing cousin. Gay bullying is still rife in schools in the UK, and, I imagine, even worse in the US, where such bullying is more likely to have its roots in religious prejudice.
You then foolishly suggest that homosexuality is “a lifestyle choiceâ€. Would you equally describe being black “a lifestyle choiceâ€. Or having red hair? Or being left-handed? Or being bald?
Your assertion that homosexuals have fewer family responsibilities than their heterosexual counterparts is, of course, true. This makes them available to contribute many more hours of their lives doing extremely stressful, often low-paid jobs. Strip gays out of the NHS, for example – and the service would most likely collapse. (Ironically, if you were to eliminate gays and women from the church industry, it too would fall apart).
It is therefore in society’s interest to ensure that its homosexual population, which ought to be regarded as valuable resource, be accorded the respect it deserves, and is given protection from bigots like you.
Finally, I should point out that Brighton, where I live, has one of the biggest gay populations of any centre in Europe – and many of these people are happily retired, and are living well into their eighties, if not beyond. Indeed, I recently had the pleasure of introducing a charming, sprightly gay man in his 80s to his first computer, and helped him open up a whole new vista in his life.
Oh, and Max, you are still avoiding my questions about marriage.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I can understand why the dirty little yellow coward who calls himself Bob, or Max, or Butthead, or J.P. Holding, or Osama bin Laden, or whatever ski mask he dons next, has to hide behind a pseudonym. He probably lives among people who have no awareness of what a braindead nut case he really is. If his community ever learned that he is the buffoon who has to post repeated proofs of his psychosis to a website designed for the educated, since sites run by other godphuqt ignoramuses (tautology) recognize him as an embarrassment and refuse to touch him with a barge pole, he would be unable to leave his house without everyone who sees him starting to hum the theme music from The Twilight Zone.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Dr William Harwood
That’s genuine anger.
Nice.
Bob would urge you to repent.
February 27th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
“Your narrow Christian definition would, I guess, rule out the union between one man and FOUR women, which is a perfectly valid arrangement in Islam.”
It was valid in the Old Testament too.
Polygamists include Jacob (Gen. 31:17), Esau (Gen. 36:6) Rehoboam (2 Chron. 11:21), Gideon (Judges 8:30), David (2 Sam. 5:13, 1 Chron. 14:3) and Solomon (1 Kings 11:13).
Deuteronomy condemns polygamy in the case of a king (Deut. 17:7), stating that a king who has many wives will be lead astray. King Solomon broke this law, and was indeed lead astray (1 Kings 11:13). King David also broke this law (2 Sam. 5:13, 1 Chron. 14:3), but was not lead astray. On the contrary, he was “a man of God†(Neh. 12:36)… “like an angel of God†(2 Sam 19:27)…. “As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did…†1 Kings 9:4). He [God] testified concerning him: “I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do†(Acts 13:22). However, David did not do everything that God wanted: “For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord’s commands all the days of his life – except in the case of Uriah the Hittiteâ€. (1 Kings 15:5) ..
The laws that applied to the masses catered for polygamy, but do not appear to condemn it (e.g. Deut. 21:15-16).
I’m reminded of the conversation about polygamy that took place between Mark Twain and a Mormon:
“Can you find for me a single passage of Scripture which forbids polygamy?†“Certainly,†replied Twain. “‘No man can serve two masters.â€
March 8th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Obviously there is ignorance here of what the Catholic Church is all about. Those who dont study in detail and do some research into Catholic teaching obviously dont realise how the Church is trying to stop the spread of aids through its teaching on chastity and self control. Of course the companies that make contraceptives are rolling in the millions and dont care about the aids epidemic. In fact they are benefiting from it. Aids has spread despite all the availability of contraceptives…so its obviously not working. The Church teaches people to control themselves (after all, we are not animals), that does work. We are all sinners and we do fail but the teaching is there and it is good advice. The results – No heartaches, no regrets, no sexual diseases, no abortions, no aids…I wish that every school would teach it..there would be so much more happiness in the world.