Cardinal faces legal action

CARDINAL Simonis, head of the Dutch Church and in the news recently about legal action taken against him by Dutch feminists over an allegedly discriminatory article in the Catholic magazine Communio, has also been taken to court by a homosexual rights group over his comments on Dutch radio where he described homosexuality as "abnormal".
The rights group hopes to extract an apology and £1,300 in damages from the cardinal because in Holland it is illegal to incite discrimination against any group in society.
The defence for the cardinal stated that he had only "explained the official doctrine of the Catholic Church on homosexuality," which he is entitled to do because of the freedom of religious expression guaranteed by the constitution.
The cardinal is also reported to have said on the radio that a landlord theoretically has the right to refuse to put up a homosexual if he thinks "this is not a proper way of life."
The policy in this country as laid down by the 1980 Bishops' Document, An Introduction to the Pastoral Care of Homosexual People, is one of non discrimination against homosexuals.
It is at present being updated after Cardinal Ratzinger's request for local initiatives for educating the public on the subject in the recent Vatican Instruction on homosexuality.
Nicholas Coote, Assistant General Secretary to the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, speaking of the Dutch situation said, "I can see how the cardinal's view can be defended as a rather sharp expression of what the position of the Church is."