On tonight’s edition of “20/20,” actress Whoopi Goldberg makes several very harsh and unfair statements about Pope John Paul II. Interviewed by Barbara Walters about her new book, Goldberg says that this pope “infuriates” her; she indicts him for rejecting gays and young people.
Last night on the NBC show, “Extra,” Catholic League president William Donohue replied to Goldberg’s attack. Today he offers some more comments:
“Whoopi Goldberg is known for two things: her acting and her political extremism. Unfortunately, her fondness for the politics of radicalism allows her to rail against the pope. But even so, she should learn to get some things right. Pope John Paul II welcomes gays as well as straights into the church. He no more rejects homosexuals because he disapproves of sodomy than he rejects heterosexuals because he disapproves of fornication and adultery. As for young people, the millions of young men and women who attended World Youth Day in Paris this past summer, and in Denver in 1993, removes all doubt that he is loved by youth.
“The Catholic League cannot overlook that it is the Disney-owned station, ABC, that is featuring Goldberg’s tirade. It was Disney that gave us the movie, ‘Priest’; it was ABC’s Peter Jennings that allowed abusive comments to be made about Mother Teresa during her funeral; and it is ABC that is currently treating us to ‘Nothing Sacred.’ It’s enough to make Catholics wonder whether there isn’t something devilishly wrong with these folks.”
