Bishops 'united on civil unions' says Bagnasco

(ANSA) - Rome, January 25 - Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said Monday there is no division among bishops over the government's civil unions bill giving same-sex couples some of the same rights as straight married couples. "The bishops are united...in sharing the difficulties and trials of the family," said Bagnasco, who heads the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) and is the archbishop of Genoa. "We dream of a country...in which respect for all is part of the lifestyle, and the rights of each are guaranteed on different levels, according to the law".
    "We must never forget the identity that is proper to the family, its importance for the country's stability and economic development, and its key role in the education of the new generations," Bagnasco went on.
    "Believers have a duty and a right to participate in the common good, with a serene heart and a constructive spirit," he said.
    It is up to lay people, the cardinal said, to "inscribe divine law into the life of the earthly city". Catholic lawmakers across party lines are balking at a provision in the government's civil unions bill, which would allow one partner in a couple to adopt the other's biological children. They also objected to wording in the bill that compared same-sex unions to heterosexual marriage for juridical purposes.