Napolitano urges civil-unions compromise

(ANSA) - Rome, February 11- Former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said on Thursday he hoped that Catholic and secular groupings within the Italian parliament could find some middle ground as debate on a controversial bill on civil unions reaches its final stage in the Senate.
    "I hope a convergence of the different positions is possible, by focusing efforts on the merits of the law," Napolitano said.
    A conference of Senate whips on Wednesday postponed voting on the government's civil unions bill to next Tuesday. The bill, which would extend to gay couples many of the rights and protections heterosexual spouses enjoy, has met opposition from a range of parliamentary groupings.
    The so-called stepchild adoption provision is the most controversial part of the bill. Opponents, including some Catholic members of the Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), fear it will encourage gay couples to seek to have children with surrogate mothers abroad - a practice that is illegal in Italy.
    PD Senator Laura Cantini said on Thursday that the party was focused on approving the law as soon as possible and would seek compromise up to the last minute.
    Meanwhile Gaetano Quagliariello from the Movimento Idea party said 51 Senators had filed a complaint to the constitutional court over procedures followed for the civil unions bill.