What do they have in common?
"Whoops, I did it again!"
From USA Today:
The Vatican announced Saturday that the Pope has tapped the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner, 54, to be auxiliary bishop in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria province. Wagner caused a stir in 2005 when he was quoted as saying that he was convinced that the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina earlier that year was "divine retribution" for tolerance of homosexuals and laid-back sexual attitudes in New Orleans.
So, within the space of one week, we get a holocaust denier and a cleric who sounds more like fudamentalist (and notorious anti-Catholic)James Hagee:
Pastor John Hagee...told NPR’s Terry Gross that "Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans." "New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God," Hagee said, because "there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came."
Now, say what you will about the Roman Catholics, but you don't generally expect fundamentalist hyperbole to this extent from the RC. Back to this new Papal appointment (same cite as above)
Upper Austria Governor Josef Puehringer also weighed in, describing Wagner as a "very conservative cleric" and telling broadcaster ORF that the pick suggests the Vatican does not have a realistic picture of the diocese.
Kath.Net, a Catholic news agency in Austria, released in 2005 excerpts of what it said were comments Wagner made in a parish newsletter in Linz about Katrina.
It said the newsletter quoted Wagner as saying that Katrina destroyed not only nightclubs and brothels in New Orleans, but also abortion clinics.
"The conditions of immorality in this city are indescribable," Wagner was quoted as saying.
Shouldn't someone in the Vatican clue Il Papa into the effects his tin ear is having on the reputation of the church?