Of course the Pope has to put in his two cents:
Vatican Exhorts Legislators to Reject Same-Sex Unions
By FRANK BRUNI
VATICAN CITY, July 31 — Worried about the spread of laws that recognize same-sex couples, the Vatican today urged Roman Catholic lawmakers and others to fight back, calling support for such legislation "gravely immoral."
That unwavering appeal came in a strongly worded, 12-page document that was devoted entirely to homosexuality, gay marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians, issues that have stirred fervent debate recently in North America and Europe.
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"There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family," the document said, asserting repeatedly that marriage should be reserved for heterosexual couples.
"Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law," it said.
The document, published in several languages, including English, was presented as a set of guidelines for Catholic bishops and politicians and as an attempt to sway public debate, not as a fresh, revelatory examination of Catholic theology.
It also contained an admonition for Catholic legislators in bodies that are considering laws to recognize same-sex unions or permit gays and lesbians to marry or adopt children.
"To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral," said the document, which spelled out, on its final page, that it was being issued with the explicit approval and under the specific orders of Pope John Paul II.
Although the document had been in the works for months and reiterated positions that the pope had already made clear, it represented an especially emphatic statement of those viewpoints. It was the second time this year that the Vatican instructed Catholic politicians to oppose gay marriages, underscoring the Vatican's objections and apprehensions.
The document was released one day after President Bush announced that his administration was looking into ways to ensure that the term "marriage" would apply legally only to unions between men and women. Republican Congressional leaders have floated the idea of a constitutional amendment to do just that.
Those developments reflected some lawmakers' concerns over an apparently growing acceptance of homosexuality, a profusion of gay characters and themes on American television, and legal entitlements in some states.
Some European governments have formally recognized same-sex unions or are moving in that direction, an example of a widening chasm between Catholic teaching and European law that the pope has frequently decried.
A law passed in France in 2000 made that country the first predominantly Roman Catholic nation to recognize homosexual unions.
Just this year, Belgium began registering gay partnerships. Germany, which also has a large Catholic population, grants gay couples protections, benefits and responsibilities traditionally reserved for married men and women.
Similar measures are being considered in Britain. Two Canadian provinces also recently legalized same-sex marriages.
Homosexuality is the dominant issue at a convention this week of the Episcopal Church USA, which is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The convention is deliberating whether to confirm an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire and whether to develop a blessing for same-sex unions.
Conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans have threatened a schism if the convention votes in favor of those measures. A final resolution is expected within the next week.
The practical effect of the Vatican document was uncertain, as one Vatican official acknowledged today.
"We have to preach our principle, even if we know that many people won't abide by it," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "The Vatican is worried, because we think marriage should be between a man and a woman."
Many Catholic lawmakers in the United States and Europe have long bucked the church on a range of issues, including abortion, which the church opposes. Many of the estimated 65 million Roman Catholics in the United States — almost one in four Americans — pick and choose which of the pope's pronouncements to obey.
"Vatican officials seem to think that they still have the same kind of credibility they once had, and they don't," said the Rev. Andrew Greeley, a prominent Catholic sociologist in the United States. "I'm not saying that's good or bad, but that's certainly what the evidence seems to show."
Father Greeley added that there was much greater acceptance of homosexuality among American Catholics today than there was a decade ago, but he said he was not certain if that acceptance extended to approval of same-sex unions.
Congress is unlikely to entertain any legislation that supports such unions, although some states are grappling with the issue. Three years ago, Vermont passed a law that recognized gay couples.
In Europe, the limits of the Vatican's influence, as well as one of the seeds of its frustration, were made clear in the pope's failed campaign to have a reference to Christianity inserted into the preamble of the current draft of a European Union constitution.
The Vatican document issued today, titled "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons," condemned what it called "unjust discrimination against homosexual persons."
But it maintained that the inability of same-sex couples to procreate on their own violated one of the God-given and most important aspects of marriage.
It said legal recognition for gay and lesbian couples would amount to "approval of deviant behavior, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society."
It added that allowing children to be adopted by gays and lesbians "would actually mean doing violence to these children" because it would put them in unhealthy home environments. |
