WHILE Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao may have erred in how he expressed his opinion about same-sex marriage, Novaliches Bishop Emeritus Teodoro Bacani said people, especially those bashing the congressman, should also look at what the boxing champion was trying to say.
Bacani acknowledged that it is un-Christian to judge people over their sexual preferences but people should also think about same-sex marriage in the context of right and wrong.
“Manny Pacquiao was just trying to say higher creatures should not strive to copy lower creatures. Manny Pacquiao is just trying to tell those advocating same-sex marriage that they are different from animals,” Bacani said in a radio interview over Church-owned Radio Veritas.
Bacani said the Catholic Church, as a matter of faith, does not judge the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, but the church does have principles on sexual wrongdoing.
“The church clearly teaches that we should not judge, but it is wrong,” Bacani said. “If you are guilty, you are not judged of being a wicked person, but it is not right… If it is not right, it’s not right. That is not a judgment of the person involved, but a judgement on a wrong-doing.”
“As it is said, love the sinners, but reject the sins,” the bishop added.
Bacani called on members of the LGBT community to also understand that Pacquiao expressed an opinion on same-sex marriage and the lawmaker never described people as animals.
“He hurt people because of how he said it, but those who were hurt should also ask themselves if what Manny wanted to say was right or not. They were not being compared to animals. He was just making a contrast,” Bacani said.
Boxing champion, congressman and senatorial candidate Manny Pacquiao received a firestorm of criticism for describing gay couples as “worse than animals” in a television interview.
“It’s common sense. Do you see animals mating with the same sex? Animals are better because they can distinguish male from female,” Pacquiao told TV-5 in an interview aired earlier this week.
“If men mate with men and women mate with women they are worse than animals,” he added.
Citing that animals are low form of classes and people are the high form of classes, Bacani explained that what the Boxing champ is trying to say is that people should not strive to do the things that even animals are not normally doing.
On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile also defended Pacquiao from his bashers and said those who disagree with the congressman should go to Mars.
Defending Pacquiao, Enrile noted that same sex relationship is unnatural.
“For me, I would not have made [the remark] that strong, but that is [still] unnatural,” the 92-year old senator said.
“Manny Pacquiao is a leader. He is showing better leadership than most people,” Enrile said, addig that he could never support same-sex marriage.
Still, Enrile said he believes that Pacquiao can weather the furor over his remarks and will still be among the senators elected in May.
“He will win in this election hands down. Believe me,” said Enrile, who said he does not care if he will be criticized for defending Pacquiao. “I will tell them, they’re crazy. What are you doing, you are not God?”
