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Email: "Pope: Legal Recognition of Gay Unions is “Dangerous and Counterproductive”"

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Adds, "Social commitment to charity can never be disassociated from the courageous announcement of the faith" BY LifeSiteNews.com By John Jalsevac  ROME, Italy, January 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Earlier today Pope Benedict XVI met with Piero Marrazzo, president of the Region of Lazio, Italy; Walter Veltroni, mayor of the City of Rome; and Enrico Gasbarra, president of the Province of Rome, for the purpose of exchanging the traditional New Years greetings.  During the meeting Benedict addressed the topic of the family, saying that the "intrinsic value and authentic motivations" of marriage and the family, "need today to be better understood. To this end, the Church’s pastoral commitment is great and must grow further.”  Along the same line the pope told his visitors that it is necessary that policies are developed that encourage healthy families and marriages. "However," the pope added, "projects that aim to attribute to other forms of union inappropriate legal recognition appear dangerous and counterproductive.” Benedict said such unions, and the legal recognition of them, ends up "weakening and destabilizing the legitimate family based on marriage."  The Pope’s remarks were evidently aimed at the current Italian government’s push towards the legal recognition of homosexual unions, and the relationships of heterosexual cohabitating couples.  In related news, during yesterday’s General Audience Pope Benedict encouraged Christians to continue to courageously proclaim the faith despite mounting persecutions.“Social commitment to charity can never be disassociated from the courageous announcement of the faith," said Benedict. "The cross remains central in the life of the Church as well as in our private lives. In the history of the Church, passion and persecution will never be lacking.""In our own lives too, the cross, which will never be lacking, becomes a blessing," he concluded. "And accepting the cross, knowing that is [sic] it is and becomes a blessing, we learn the joy of being Christian, even in moments of difficulty."  See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:  Vatican Says Italian Government Wants to "Eradicate" Traditional Family  http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/dec/06121102.html  New Italian Government in Clash With Vatican over Homosexual Civil Unions  http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/may/06052409.html http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-legal-recognition-of-gay-unions-is-dangerous-and-counterproductive/

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