Cardinal Francis George Dies At Age 78

Longtime LGBT rights foe Cardinal Francis George has died of cancer at the age of 78. Via USA Today:

In recent years, his reputation was that of a conservative battling to stem the tide of secularism that witnessed millions of Catholics leaving the faith. One obituary even labeled him as “the American Ratzinger,” referring to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the reactionary doctrinal watchdog under Pope John Paul II who instituted numerous conservative reforms in his own brief pontificate as Benedict XVI. “Independence from foreign government does not necessarily mean that people will be free under their own government,” he wrote last year in an Independence Day column about government pressure being put on religious institutions. “People can freely create a state that destroys a free society.” Like many bishops, Cardinal George fought an uphill battle to defend the Catholic Church from legitimate charges that its leaders did not do enough to protect minors from sexual abuse by predatory priests. He used his influence to gain support for a zero-tolerance policy to defrock pedophiles but was dogged by evidence that he didn’t move fast enough against criminal clerics in his own diocese.

(Tipped by JMG reader Andrew)

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: In September 2014, Cardinal George declared that Catholics are “no longer welcome” in the pro-gay state religion. In July 2014, Cardinal George declared that America is being destroyed by the “tyranny of gay marriage.” In January 2013, Cardinal George demanded that every Catholic in Illinois oppose same-sex marriage. In December 2012, Cardinal George declared that there is no such things as gay marriage because it cannot be consummated. In 2011, Cardinal George compared Chicago’s gay pride parade to a parade of the Ku Klux Klan.