More Pope news

Rico says he knows he shouldn't (and when's that ever stopped him), but he can't help captioning this photo of Pope Benedict XVI with (your choice): "Mmmm, tasty!" or (just as bad) "Come back in ten years, kid, we'll do the nasty."

But Richard Owen, Fatima, and Ruth Gledhill have the real story in The Times of London:

Pope Benedict XVI yesterday condemned gay marriage and abortion as “among the most insidious and dangerous challenges” to society.
Speaking on a visit to Portugal, which is preparing to legalise same-sex partnerships, the Pontiff also criticised Catholics who are ashamed of their faith and too willing to “lend a hand to secularism”. The gay marriage legislation was recently passed by the Portuguese parliament and is due to be signed into law next week by President Anibal Cavaco Silva, a conservative Catholic. Ninety per cent of Portuguese define themselves as Catholic, but Portuguese society is increasingly secular, with well under a third saying they attend Mass regularly.
The Pope was speaking after a packed open air Mass at the Marian shrine at Fatima, the Portuguese Lourdes, 120 kilometres north of Lisbon. The mass was attended by half a million people. Meeting Catholic charity workers at the shrine, the Pope called for “defence of life” and “indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman” in response to what he described as the dangerous threats of gay marriage and abortion. He offered his thanks to those who helped people “wounded by the drama of abortion”.
His words will be studied in Britain, where Catholics prepare for their own visit by the Pope in September. In the pre-election television debates, David Cameron said he disagreed with the Pope’s teaching on homosexuality. The Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg indicated he agreed with Mr. Cameron.
The Pope’s condemnation of gay marriage was itself condemned by secularists and gay rights campaigners. Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, accused Benedict of trying to interfere with the country’s democratic will. “If the President of Portugal approves the law on gay marriage– and there is every indication that she will– it will represent a slap in the face for the Pope’s authority.”
Tony Green, spokesman for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, which will be debating gay marriage and civil partnership at its annual conference in London tomorrow, said: "It is one thing to oppose gay marriage from religious convictions, and another to make such a claim about it, when you look at issues such as teenage pregnancy, sexual disease, drug abuse, world poverty, and war. This is an appalling, unfounded, and unjust claim. I do not really see on what basis he can say gay marriage is among the most dangerous challenges to society. It ignores real social evils the Church and others should be addressing with far greater urgency."
Peter Tatchell, of the gay rights group Outrage, added: "The Pope is fast losing all his sense of moral priorities. Compared to war, poverty, and racism, gay marriage is a minor issue. It is not worthy of the Pope's moral outrage. In a world filled with hate and violence, he should be encouraging love and commitment, not denouncing it."
The mass at the shrine at Fatima marked the anniversary of the day in 1917 when three shepherd children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary as the sun “spun” in the sky. They claimed the Madonna confided to them three secrets, foretelling the Second World War, the conversion of Russia to Christianity, and the attempt on the life of John Paul II in 1981.
John Paul believed the Virgin Mary helped save him from the attempted assassination, which took place on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. In his homily at the shrine, Pope Benedict, dressed in white and gold vestments and sounding hoarse, said “We delude ourselves if we think that the prophetic mission of Fatima has come to an end”.