Several Spanish mayors have said they will not marry homosexual couples even if a bill making its way through the parliament legalises gay nuptials.
Spain's Deputy Prime Minister had earlier warned that everyone in the country must comply with the bill. However, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Family, Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, urged officials to object on "freedom of conscience" arguments.
Vicente Gil Ortega, the mayor of Villarta de San Juan said he will wait before marrying or refusing to marry homosexuals.
"We’ll have to see what the punishment for marrying homosexuals is, but it appears that we are within our right to not do it. The freedom of conscience is on our side," Ortega said according to a Spanish newspaper called La Razón.
The Mayor of Valladolid, Javier Leon de la Riva was more forceful in his statement.
"If the upcoming law gives me the right to marry homosexuals, I will not exercise the right, nor will I delegate the authority to a subordinate," La Riva said.
"Notwithstanding," he added, "we’ll have to study what the rule is, never forgetting that in Spain there exists a conscientious objector clause."
However, Riva clarified, "I don’t care if these couples have the same rights as other citizens. What doesn’t seem right to me is that their union should be called a marriage."
The Mayor of Leon, Mario Amilivia, is in agreement with each of Rivas stances, according to La Razon.
In case any couple comes to Villarta, San Juan, seeking to marry, Ortega of Villarta will say to them, "I’m sorry. I’m a catholic before being a mayor. I can’t marry you." He adds, "As a practicing catholic, I have nothing but doctrine and I must heed what the new Pope says."
He continued, "What I’m not clear about is if the law will help us. In that case, I won’t have a choice but to delegate it to someone who will do it for me."
According to La Razon, the mayor of Socuellamos, Sebastian Carcia and the Mayor of Valdemoro, Jose Miguel Moreno Torres may also refuse to oversee such unions.
"There will always be someone within the city council who won’t have a problem in officiating these weddings. We won’t do it, but we don’t have a problem if someone else does it," they said.
"I’m a Catholic and I’ll do what my religion dictates," said Garcia. "The Catholic Church will never recognise as marriage a union that isn’t between a man and a woman."
Francis Helguero
Christian Today Correspondent
