Sinead O'Connor Congratulates Pope Benedict on His 'Greatest Achievement': Retiring

Sinead O'Connor, who famously ripped a portrait of Pope John Paul II to pieces on SNL in 1992 while saying "fight the real enemy," said this today about Pope Benedict XVI's retirement:

I would like to congratulate Pope Benedict on his wise decision to retire before the very worst of what has been going on is discovered. I appreciate his alluding to some of it in his statement and assure him The Most High forgives those who can faithfully say they did wrong.

The church had been brought into dreadful disrepute by lies and blasphemies against The Holy Spirit. Benedict’s greatest achievement is this act of retiring. There is a chance now for the church to be re-built and made fit to house The Holy Spirit.

Pope Benedict XVI Resigning February 28

Pope Benedict will step down February 28, the Vatican has confirmed. The resignation took the Vatican by surprise, as it is the first time in six centuries (not since 1415) that a Pope has resigned.

The full text of his resignation and see an ABC News report, AFTER THE JUMP....

Reuters reports:

The 85-year-old pope said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months "to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me".

"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter," he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

His attacks on gay marriage and gay families will not be missed. The office will be vacant until a successor is chosen.

The Pope has said in recent months that gays "[manipulate] their God-given identities to suit their sexual choices — and [destroy] the very 'essence of the human creature' in the process". Benedict said in December that gay marriage offends human truth, and threatens justice and peace.

He also blessed the lawmaker behind Uganda's "kill the gays" bill.

Last September he called gay marriages "defective" and called on U.S. Bishops last March to defend against the passage of marriage equality laws.

Though, he's not against the occasional male strip show:

Continuing, he has said in November 2010 "sexuality has an intrinsic meaning and direction, which is not homosexual," a follow-up to a September 2010 attack in which he said that marriage equality laws "contribute to the weakening of the principles of natural law" and to "confusion about society’s values."

In June of 2010 an unauthorized painting depicting Benedict marrying two men went on display in London:

It was shortly after he begged forgiveness from God for the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal that he helped cover up.

In May 2010 he called gay marriage "dangerous" and "insidious". A few months earlier he said "In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed.”

Gays endanger humanity, he said in January 2010, right after embracing an anti-gay Holocaust denier.

In December 2008 Pope Benedict said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

In 2007, he called gay marriage an obstacle to world peace. These statements were "non-negotiable" he told Catholic lawmakers, politicians, and those in power.

At Christmas in 2006, the Pope "warned that mankind would destroy its own identity should it follow theories which place same-sex couples at the same level as husband and wife." He added that supporting same-sex marriage "tacitly accredits those dismal theories that strip all relevance from the masculinity and femininity of the human being as though it were a purely biological issue."

The full text of his resignation and see an ABC News report, AFTER THE JUMP....

Topless Femen Activists Arrested Protesting Pope's Anti-Gay Policies

Four women from Femen, the oft-topless activist group that fights for women's and LGBT rights, were arrested at St. Peter's Square at the Vatican while the Pope was speaking today.

Baring their chests, and with slogans like "In Gay We Trust" and "Homophobe shut up" painted on their backs, the women were there to shake their collective fist at Pope Benedict and the Vatican's consistently hateful, discriminatory and increasingly outdated policies demonizing LGBT people.

Before their arrests, the Femen activists had to contend with irate Catholic pilgrims who tried to run them off. The scene was very reminiscent of when anti-gay activists started beating up the women during an action in France last November.

See some more shots from today's action AFTER THE JUMP.

Italian Premier Backed By Vatican Says Marriage Equality Up To Parliament

Rather than falling in line behind his anti-gay political backers at the Vatican, Italian Premier Mario Monti told Sky TG24 TV today that he thinks marriage equality should be decided by Parliament, not him or any outside force.

[Monti] says gay rights issues — including gay marriage —should be decided by Parliament, not his government if he wins.

Monti told Sky TG24 TV on Sunday that issues involving personal dignity are more important that economic reforms.

But he stressed that his coalition forces, which include pro-Vatican centrists, came together to work on the more "urgent" task of achieving economic growth in recession-mired Italy.

He says the new Parliament will have a greater role than the government in dealing with gay rights.

Though he didn't say whether he supports same-sex marriage, the fact that Monti didn't claim gay marriage would destroy civilization, as perpetually paranoid pal Pope Benedict does, is notable enough.

News: Aurora, Bieber's Blunt, Catholic Hate Group Petition, NZ

Did you get a chance to see Betty White on The Tonight Show this week?

Oh, look, it's anti-gay GOP House Speaker John Boehner with the new gay Congressmen Sean Patrick Maloney and Mark Pocan and their lovely husbands and families.

There's currently a We the People petition demanding the White House to designate the Catholic Church a hate group because of Pope Benedict's repeated denunciations of gay people. Less than 2,000 have signed said petition, which was posted on Christmas.

From NBC News: "The U.S. Supreme Court is set to tackle gay marriage in a matter of months, but legislative action this week in Rhode Island and Illinois shows that supporters aren't in wait-and-see mode. Buoyed by ballot victories in four states in November, they're now on the offensive in two more; wins would mean that more than 20 percent of Americans live in places that have approved same-sex marriage."

Could the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality cases be 3-3-3, not 5-4? "Say, for example, that three justices vote to reverse on the merits, three vote to affirm based on the 9th Circuit's opinion, and three vote to dismiss the appeal on jurisdictional grounds. In that case, I would argue, Proposition 8 is dead and same-sex marriage is once again available and recognized in California. The result would be a brief per curiam explaining the disposition of votes, and at least three separate opinions – maybe even more than that – to chart the outcome. No national precedent would be set in such a case."

Are fans, not players, to blame for keeping European soccer players in the closet? From The Telegraph: "Part of football's appeal is its unreconstructed, largely masculine, largely working-class attitudes. It is easy to imagine that a gay footballer would dread the reaction at away grounds were he to come out."

Almost 54% of New Zealand voters support marriage equality, according to a new poll. Only 38.1% do not. Meanwhile, with regard to the always controversial right to die question, about 60% believe a terminally ill person has the right to request doctor-assisted euthanasia.

Justin Bieber with a blunt.

Clueless photo shoot.

Christians against yoga, one of the easiest and most effective forms of exercise in the world.

Three people were found dead inside a home in Aurora, Colorado, the site of last summer's deadly movie theater shooting, after local SWAT officials shot a gunman who took them hostage. One hostage escaped and called police, leading to a nearly six-hour stand-off.

Either because officials thought them inappropriate or because venues backed out, about half-a-dozen gun shows within an hour drive of Newtown, CT, where the Sandy Hook shooting happened last month, have been canceled.

Peter David is the straight author and comic book writer who makes sure gay heroes Rictor and Shatterstar are prominently featured in the Marvel title X-Factor. Late last year David had a stroke, and he needs your help down the road to recovery.

Here's Ryan Seacrest running around shirtless in St. Barts.

Advice to President Obama.

The return of the Coca-Cola polar bears.

News: Maryland, Fiscal Deal, Russian Soccer, 'Oz'

Just a bit more about the Log Cabin's ad against Chuck Hagel, from a Washington Blade piece published last Friday, "Cooper said he couldn’t immediately recall the cost of the ad, but said it was done over the holiday week at a special rate and was financed by Log Cabin donors who are also organization members." According to Cooper, their anti-Hagel page in the New York Times was prepared before Christmas.

Marriage equality becomes the law of Maryland at the stroke of midnight.

President Obama said a congressional deal to prevent our nation from careening off the so-called "fiscal cliff" is in sight. From Reuters: "The tentative Senate agreement would raise taxes on several fronts, with wealthier Americans bearing much of the burden. That might not be popular in the House where Republicans hold sway. The planned tax increases, while substantial, would be smaller than those that will take effect automatically this week if Congress fails to brunt the full force of the fiscal cliff." [UPDATE: Nevermind! No House vote tonight, so no deal.]

Lake Superior State University's 38th annual list of banished words.

A new year's anthem from The Rescues: "Everything's Gonna Be Better Next Year"

Ring in the new year Oz style.

Based on the type of medicine she's being given, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta thinks it's unlikely Hillary Clinton's blood clot is in her brain. [UPDATE: Actually, it is in her head.]

CNN asked Democratic voters who they would like to see run for president in 2016: 65% said Hillary Clinton; 26% went for Joe Biden.

10 gayest songs of 2012.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are having a baby.

Stacy Kiebler and Michael Phelps played beer pong together in Cabo. Where was George Clooney during all of this?

Who is paying for Lindsay Lohan's life?

Russian soccer players Alexander Kokorin and Pavel Mamaev ignited gay rumors after photos of them hugging and kind of kissing during a Miami vacation surfaced over the weekend.

As the National Geographic Channel prepares to air "Are You Tougher Than A Boy Scout?," a Change.org petition calling on the cable channel to denounce the group's a    nti-gay politics.

This is fabulous: Bahaman Bishop Simeon Hall apologized for past comments about gay people and said that pastors who still preach against LGBT people may be overcompensating for their own closet. "Psychologists tell us that sometimes the things we strike out against, we do so because a bit of it lies within us on a subliminal level," he said.

"The Pope and Killing Gay People."