Politics
Monday July 10, 2006
Head ‘Justice and Peace’ Cardinal Fights Gay Civil Unions in Italy
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By Gudrun Schultz
VATICAN CITY, July 10, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican’s Justice and Peace department, warned of the dangers posed to Western society by laws that recognize homosexual unions, in a statement on Thursday reported by ANSA News Agency.
Civilization in the West is taking an “ugly” turn in granting legal recognition to homosexual and unmarried couples, said Cardinal Martino. “Western society is on a slippery slope. The sense of God is being blurred.”
Removing distinctions between different forms of union would be disastrous, he said, because it would question the “meaning of being a man or a woman, the characteristics of love and sexuality.”
He said the movement toward social acceptance and endorsement of unmarried couples, including homosexual unions, indicated disintegrating morals and general confusion in society, reported ANSA.
Italian homosexual rights groups have been pushing for the adoption of civil union legislation in Italy, following the trend initiated by France with the implementation of civil union contracts between unmarried couples, including homosexual couples.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi, a practicing Catholic, has indicated he will address the issue, defending the proposed legal unions on the grounds that they would differ substantially from marriage.
Opponents of the proposal have said civil unions would go against the Italian constitution under article 29, which states: “The Republic recognises the rights of the family as a natural union based on marriage.”
Although a poll conducted late in 2005 found 70 percent of Italians were against same-sex “marriage,” current polls have indicated high levels of support for legal civil unions among the Italian population, despite the Church’s opposition to any legal status for homosexual couples.
In a document released in 2003, “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons,” the Vatican clearly stated that no legal recognition of homosexual unions would be permissible, regardless of how the rights granted would differ from marriage.
Read ANSA News Agency’s coverage:
http://www.ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-07-06_1067730.html
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
70% of Italians Oppose Same-Sex 'Marriage' Says Latest Poll
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05101201.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.