Source: The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30761-2004Jul31.html?referrer=email
On August 1, 2004 The Washington Post reported, "The Vatican issued a letter Saturday attacking the 'distortions' and 'lethal effects' of feminism, which it defined as an effort to erase differences between men and women -- a goal, the statement said, that undermines the 'natural two-parent structure' of the family and makes 'homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent.' The sharp critique was contained in a document issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a chief adviser to Pope John Paul II and head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the department in charge of defining Roman Catholic orthodoxy. The 37-page document also outlined the Vatican's formula for relationships between men and women, calling for 'active collaboration between the sexes' and rejecting subjugation of women. The statement was the latest Vatican salvo against trends it regards as undermining its teachings on sexuality and the family. Vatican officials have assailed abortion and contraception; politicians who support abortion through legislation; and legalized same-sex unions. The pope approved the document, titled 'Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and the World.' Catholic feminists in the United States said the letter presented a caricature of feminism as antagonistic toward men and trying to deny any difference between the sexes. They said feminism seeks equal rights and respect for both genders."