Respect for the choices of
others is "fundamental" even if the Church clearly cannot always
adopt the same position, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro
Parolin said on Thursday.
He made the comments in response to questions from
journalists concerning the recent assisted suicide of DJ Fabo in
Switzerland and recognition by a court in Trento that both
members of a gay couple can be considered the fathers of
children born abroad via a surrogate mother.
"Our loyalty is to the Gospel", since if the Church "says
'no' it is because it has a bigger 'yes'. It is not exclusively
negative, but for something more, greater fullness of life and
joy," Parolin explained.
The secretary of state also explained Wednesday's resignation
by Marie Collins, an Irish woman who was a victim of repeated
sexual abuse by a priest when she was a girl, from an
international commission on protecting children set up by Pope
Francis, partly as an attempt to "shake things up".
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