Riga, Latvia, Aug 15, 2005 / 22:00 pm
On Sunday, speaking to tens of thousands of faithful who had turned out for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, Latvian Cardinal Janis Pujats blasted a recent gay pride parade which had taken place in the city of Riga, saying that it was simply a way to “show off…sin.”
“In Soviet times we faced atheism, which oppressed religion; now we have an era of sexual atheism,” said the cardinal to a packed basilica in the small Baltic town of Aglona. The town is home to a shrine to the Blessed Virgin and the state’s most visited basilica.
Cardinal Pujats recalled this past July’s “Pride 2005” parade--the first of its kind in Riga, which brought out some 50 participants and thousands of spectators.
Prior to the parade, marchers took place in an Anglican church ceremony which the cardinal particularly chided.