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<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Austrian bishop decries </span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">pro-LGBT concert </span><span style="background-color:rgb(230,145,56)">Cardinal Schönborn</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">allowed in</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">Vienna cathedral
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<p class="gmail-article-tags gmail-hide-print"><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/austrian-bishop-decries-pro-lgbt-concert-cardinal-schoenborn-allowed-in-vienna-cathedral">https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/austrian-bishop-decries-pro-lgbt-concert-cardinal-schoenborn-allowed-in-vienna-cathedral</a><br><span></span><span></span><span></span></p>
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<p>SALZBURG, December 10, 2019 (<a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/">LifeSiteNews</a>)
— <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Austrian Bishop Andreas Laun joined his voice to those condemning</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the
pro-LGBTQ concert that <span style="background-color:rgb(230,145,56)">Cardinal Christoph Schönborn</span> allowed and
attended Nov. 30 in</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> Vienna’s preeminent cathedral.</b></span></p>
<p>“I just think that <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>silence can also be <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">sin</span></b></span>. That is why my answer to
this event in the House of God is only a big NO. NO and NO again!” wrote
the retired auxiliary bishop of Salzburg in the Austrian Catholic
German-language news outlet <a href="https://www.kath.net/news/70011">kath.net</a>.</p>
<p>In his trenchant rebuke, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Laun quoted Archbishop Carlo Viganó’s
denunciation of </b></span>t<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>he November 30 AIDS charity concert as a “homoerotic
and blasphemous provocation.” </b></span></p>
<p>Viganó decried the event in a <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/abp-vigano-condemns-pro-lgbt-concert-in-vienna-cathedral-as-blasphemous">message of support</a> to Alexander Tschugguel, who organized a Rosary of reparation outside the 14th-century cathedral during the concert. </p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/120-people-pray-rosary-outside-vienna-cathedral-in-reparation-for-pro-lgbt-concert-happening-within">Tschugguel</a>,
the 26-year-old Austrian famous for taking several statues of the
Pachamama pagan idol from a church in Rome during October’s Amazon Synod
and throwing them in the Tiber, reported that the Rosary was attended
by 120 people.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>This is the third year in a row <span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)">Cardinal Schönborn </span>has allowed and attended the “Believe Together”<a href="https://www.vienna.at/lange-nacht-der-solidaritaet-aids-benefiz-abend-im-wiener-stephansdom/6443277"> concert</a>,</b></span> which is hosted by an organization called LIFE+ and marks World AIDS Day.</p>
<p><u><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>Last year’s event featured a shirtless actor known for playing
homosexual roles standing on </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>the<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> altar </span>rail,</b></span></u><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b><u> loud rock and electronic
music, and actors dressed as demons</u>.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>This year, Thomas Neuwirth — the drag queen “Conchita Wurst” </b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">who represented Austria in the 2014 Eurovision contest </span><b>—<a href="https://www.vienna.at/lange-nacht-der-solidaritaet-aids-benefiz-abend-im-wiener-stephansdom/6443277"> performed</a> in </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the sanctuary</b></span> with male and female adolescents used for back-up.</p>
<p>Organizer and homosexual activist a Gery Keszler thanked Schönborn
for his presence and permission to use the cathedral, saying: “We are
very grateful for the trust that the cardinal has placed in us.” </p>
<p>“The media have reported what happened in St. Stephen's Cathedral, of course, with the permission of the authority,” wrote Laun.</p>
<p>“I thought of Jeremiah’s lament in the face of the sins of the
people: ‘And with this ye come and stand before my face in this house
over which my name is proclaimed, and say, “We are safe” and then
continue to pursue all those abominations. Has this house, over which my
name is proclaimed, become a den of robbers in your eyes?’ [<a href="https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/7-10.htm">Jeremiah 7:9-11</a>]” wrote the bishop.</p>
<p>“Perhaps we should say: a place for pleasure that God does not like?” he added.</p>
<p>“And<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> I thought of </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>the temple cleansing, how Jesus would not tolerate
the merchants and even the harmless pigeons in the temple,”</b></span> wrote Laun.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">His column also included an extensive, unsourced quote by prefect for
the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship Cardinal Robert Sarah
regarding people with homosexual tendencies:</span></p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
</span><blockquote><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
</span><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">We must treat them with the greatest possible compassion. The first
work of charity we owe them is the truth. No one expects a word of favor
from the Church. A partnership between two people of the same sex can
never be a marriage. There is no conviction of the person in this
statement.... I implore the believers who are tempted to homosexuality
not to be locked up in this prison of LGBT ideology. Through baptism you
are children of God! Your place is -- as for all Christians -- in the
Church. And if from time to time the spiritual struggle becomes too
hard, fraternal love will carry you.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>“To which I add, AMEN,” wrote Laun.</p>
<p>This is not the first time the outspoken 77-year-old bishop has criticized his brother bishops.</p>
<p>Notably, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>when German Cardinal Gerhard Marx and Bishop Franz-Josef
Bode floated the idea in 2018 of blessing same-sex unions</b></span>, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Laun<a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/austrian-bishop-forcefully-rejects-german-bishops-idea-of-blessing-homosexu"> compared</a></b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>it to blessing a brothel or a concentration camp.</b></span></p>
<p>He also pointed out the oft-ignored but<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> essential distinction between</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(230,145,56)"><b>the sinner </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>and</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>the sin.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“But now concerning the question of Cardinal Marx, and not a few of
the priests, the answer is simple: one may ask for<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> God’s blessing for</span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)">sinners,</span> but not for <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">the sin,</span>”<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> </span></b><b><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">he</span> wrote.</b></span></p>
<p>“That is to say, one could not consecrate a brothel, one could not
bless a concentration camp or weapons which are not explicitly ordained
for hunting or for legitimate self-defense,” observed Laun.</p>
<p>“Therefore it is clear that <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>one may not <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">bless a relationship which is
sinful</span>; [one may not <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">bless] the mafia</span>; no <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">blessing for organizations or
institutions which promote or procure abortions or which propagate
ideologies which are against </span>the Faith,<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> antisemitic contents, or other
forms of racist thought.”</span></b></span></p></div>
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