Pope Benedict XVI has made another controversial appointment by elevating an Austrian pastor who said Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for homosexuality in New Orleans to the position of bishop.
The Vatican yesterday announced that Gerhard Wagner has been appointed as auxiliary bishop in Linz, Austria.
Wagner, who has served as the pastor of a church in the Austrian town of Windischgarsten since 1988, has a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome.
In 2005, the 54-year-old was quoted in a parish newsletter as saying he was convinced that the death and destruction caused by Katrina that year was "divine retribution" for New Orleans' permissive sexual attitudes and tolerance of homosexuality. guardian.co.uk - San Francisco Chronicle