Vatican against discrimination, but no same-sex marriage
Vote on French bill due next week
04 February, 16:18
(ANSA) - Vatican City, February 4 - The pope's minister for
the family said the Church was against discrimination of gays
but could not support same-sex marriage and praised protests in
France opposing measures to legalize it.
"The Catholic Church is against discrimination," said
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, "but we are also against same-sex
marriage...This is not a religious belief, but the natural order
of things. We cannot submit to a sick egalitarianism'.He added that that homosexuality is still a crime "in too many countries" and that the Church should play a role in stopping it.
Meanwhile a French bill on same-sex marriage is currently being debated by the national assembly governments.
Hundreds of thousands have turned out in marches against the bill since it was introduced in November, and bishops in France have been outspoken against it.
A vote on the bill is expected next week.
On Saturday Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa and president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, called gay marriage "the abyss of human society".
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