Father Gerhard Maria Wagner, who said Hurricane Katrina 'divine retribution,' was made Bishop

Pope appoints bishop who said Hurricane Katrina was 'divine retribution'
Richard Owen in Rome
Hard on the heels of a Holocaust denial row, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed an ultra-conservative bishop in Austria who described Hurricane Katrina as God's punishment for sin and sexual excess in New Orleans.

Father Gerhard Maria Wagner, 54, a parish priest at Windischgarsten in Austria since 1988, said in the parish newsletter four years ago that the death and destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina was "divine retribution" for excessive sexual permissiveness, including tolerance of homosexuality.

He noted that Katrina destroyed not only nightclubs and brothels in New Orleans, but also abortion clinics, adding "The conditions of immorality in this city are indescribable". Father Wagner, who has been appointed as auxiliary Bishop of Linz in Austria, has also accused the popular Harry Potter books and films of "spreading Satanism".

Vatican sources said despite the row over pontiff’s controversial reinstatement of a bishop who denies that the Holocaust occurred, Pope Benedict remained determined to "bring back into the fold" not only the four bishops from the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) who whose excommunications were lifted a week ago but also the 500 priests of the fraternity, founded by the late renegade French bishop Marcel Lefebvre.

RC Cardinal Cormac Murphy O' Connor's book on Multiculturalism in Britain

Immigrants will have to adjust to an 'unfriendly' for religious people UK: Cardinal

Sun, Dec 7 11:45 AM

London, Dec.7 (ANI): The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O' Connor, has said that while Britain has become an "unfriendly" place for religious people to live in, immigrant groups still have an obligation to understand, respect and adjust to "the ethos of the society they are opting to join."

"Our society has a corresponding obligation to encourage and help them to do so," The Telegraph quotes Murphy-O'Connor as saying further while blaming the rise of secularism as the key factor behind a British society that is liberal and is hostile to Christian morals and values.

Religious belief is viewed as "a private eccentricity" and the voice of faith groups is marginalized, he says.

Britain, the cardinal adds, is now showing signs of degenerating into a country free of morals, because of its rejection of traditional values and its new emphasis on the rights of the individual.

In a book on multiculturalism, to be published on Monday, he argues that immigrants have a duty to adjust to British life, but expresses concern that they are faced with a culture that is increasingly repressive and intolerant.

The book, called Faith in the Nation, is published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), with the backing of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. more