From the wire services - August 19, 2008

Moving Cardinal Newman's body 'moral vandalism' says gay activist

 

Canterbury, England (ENI). British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell has described the Vatican's instruction that the body of Cardinal John Henry Newman be moved from its grave at a cemetery in the English town of Rednal, to a special new resting place at the nearby Birmingham Oratory as "an act of religious desecration and moral vandalism". In an interview with Ecumenical News International, Tatchell said, "Newman repeatedly made it clear that he wanted to be buried next to his life-long partner, Ambrose St John. No one gave the Pope permission to defy Newman's wishes. The re-burial has only one aim in mind: to cover up Newman's homosexuality and to disavow his love for another man. It is an act of shameless dishonesty and personal betrayal by the gay-hating Catholic Church." [701 words, ENI-08-0661]

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