If you change the nature of the church especially in the matter of one of its core beliefs and something that is expressly forbidden in the Bible, that church will cease to be itself. The function of the church is to teach the people, not the other way round. Why should Tony Blair, with his few years of experience on this earth, and only recently a Catholic, presume to tell the Pope, who has many more years experience and all the thousands of years of the wisdom of the church behind him. Beliefs are not necessarily right just because they are modern or pragmatic.

tony blair is another reason why the pope is right in what he says[ being gay is just not right ],blair is the worst type of creature in the world ,greedy ,boastful and actually belives ppl listen to his awful diatribe .he should keep his nose out of the churches buisness .the pope is right on this issue ,if we start givin in to what we belive , we will all become like the slimeball blair.

I for one cannot accept anything said from a man who tells people that comdoms increase the spread of HIV/aids. This is clearly the preachings of the devil if he/she exsists.

"The views of religious leaders may not be popular but they have stood the test of time."
And Earth is at the centre of the Universe? Oh, wait. That's right - religious leaders changed their minds on that one.
And as for their messiah being crucified on a different day each year dependant on some archaic calculation? Hah!
See you in Valhalla!!

Pope Benedict is spot on with his views on this issue - a religion is among other things, a set of rules and values to live your life by. If you don't agree with the rules (or indeed the list of "sins", then either comply with them, leave the religion, or do what I suspect most of us do, and sin like crazy, expecting to be forgiven in the afterlife.
The Church's views on homosexuality are well known and frankly I for one agree with them - homosexuality is wrong, and whilst most of us don't object too strongly to what people get up to in the privacy of their own homes, we don't want it rammed down our throats (so to speak that this is "normal". After all, any decent medical dictionary will explain for you what the relevant body parts are for....
On issues like this I've a great deal of respect for Islam, you don't see anyone trying to mess with their rules, do you? God/Allah says such and such, that's all we need to know - perhaps Christianity could benefit from a stricter attitude to what is after all their rule book.

"Catholic religion is doing fine just as it is thankyou." "The views of religious leaders may not be popular but they have stood the test of time."
Complete nonsense, the Catholic church has changed it's views to suit itself over the last 2000 years. Anyone remember Limbo where children who die unbaptised go? Didn't the church decide in the last 10 years that in fact "no, all babies go to heaven." They decide what they want for the church - there is nothing in the church that has 'stood the test of time'. Just look at witch burning!

Any religion that causes hatred to fellow human beings should banned. It is just a way of trying to control people to follow their will and practices.
Most gay Roman Catholic men I know are so screwed up with their religion and can't enjoy their life to the full with the years of forced doctrine.
Tony Blair hasn't a cat in hell's chance of changing their stance on homosexuality, unless their hiding weapons of MASS Descuction

If the church starts changing it's views on rights and wrongs to match the latest trendy ethos,where does it end? Will there be a pressure group to say there's nothing wrong with infidelity? Then another one to say that lying is really just a form of self - expression? Religion isn't meant to be easy,and it's not a political party that can start adopting new ideas just to make people feel better and encourage new members.

Ok,as I read this article I think of my brother-in-law and his husband who seem planted in a firm relationship.Surely this is exactly what is needed in countries worldwide,firm relationships.There are far too many single mum's or single dad's,unmarried parents,people in their second,third or even fourth marriage,broken relationships are possible worthy of 'Pope time' because it is the likes of him and others like him who add fuel to the fire and make others become homophobic! Let the people decide what gender they are,not what You want them to be.Surely the human population is not going to grind to a halt because a small proportion of the population is unable to conceive (this brings to mind the fact that if the Pope is against contraception,He is adding to the world's problems).I think his own people are the only ones who can change his mind.We are GOD's children,not Mr Benedict XVI's.

If Catholics believe that God made the world and everything in it - then he also made some people gay the same as he made some people more sinful than others. If the Church can forgive sinners ........ ?