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VATICAN, May 4, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On the first business day after meeting privately with newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, gave one of the strongest statements defending the traditional family in recent memory. The Cardinal, who was reinstated in his post as President of the Pontifical Council for the Family which he held under Pope John Paul II just after the election of Pope Benedict, met with the Pope Friday and on Monday gave an extensive interview to Fides news service on the subject of homosexual ‘marriage’.

Homosexual ‘Marriage’

Cardinal Trujillo said parliaments which “open the way for same sex ‘marriage’ . . . destroy piece by piece the institution of the family the most valuable heritage of peoples and humanity.” He explained, “In these unions there are no promises for the partners or for the children, no stability, nothing before society or God, but they demand all the benefits of authentic marriage.”

Homosexual Adoption

Asked about allowing same sex couples to adopt children, the Cardinal answered, “This would destroy the child’s future, it would be an act of moral violence against the child.”

He said, “They say that children adopted by two people of the same sex are very happy. A child may be for a couple of years but when the child reaches the age of reason, when he grows up and becomes a young adult, how tragic it will be for him to let his friends know that his ‘parents’ are two women or two men? This situation endangers the child’s personality, balance, harmony.”

No Unjust Discrimination

The head of the Pontifical Council for the Family also repeated the Church’s teaching that homosexual persons are to be treated with respect, but added that they should be assisted as far as possible to overcome their disordered inclinations. “As I have said many times, homosexual peoples must be respected, loved and assisted. We must help them overcome this situation if they seriously want to and help them realise that there is not only life on earth, there is another life. The Church does not wish to see these ‘couples’ suffer discrimination, or humiliation, jeered at or treated without respect. They are human persons and we must love them. It is false to say that the Church does not love these people. She loves them and wants to lead them to eternal salvation.”

Duty to Refuse to Participate

Cardinal Trujillo also spoke of conscientious objection. “This means a person can use his or her right to object out of conscience and refuse to comply with this crime which represents the destruction of the world.”

The Cardinal went further noting a duty to refuse to participate in homosexual unions comparing it to the duty of Christian doctors “who refuse to carry out abortions”. He said, “All Christians, including state employees, have a duty to avail themselves of conscientious objection because the law of which we are speaking inflicts a deep moral wound on the Christian faith.”

Countries Which Would not Tolerate Conscientious Objection Denounced

“It would be pure totalitarianism if a person were sacked for conscientious objection.” The strong condemnation would already apply to certain Canadian provinces where, while ministers of religion are not forced to perform homosexual ‘marriages’ as of yet, civil marriage ministers are required to under pain of job loss.

Read this important interview in full here:

Indian Doctors Plea to Save Girls from Abortion

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Editorial – The Real Reason Why Christians Oppose Same-Sex Marriage