Spanish Church Steps Up Campaign against Same-Sex Marriage

The Catholic Church in Spain recently organised a day of protest on the 26th December to declare their stern opposition to the legalisation of same-sex marriage. At the same time, the Church wants to promote marriage as something to be contracted solely between a man and a woman.

In the statement published by the Bishops Conference of the Church on Sunday, it attacked two major viewpoints of those who embrace homosexuality. It stated that the concept of "sexual orientation" is "erroneous" and labelled homosexual behaviour as "intrinsically bad".

The statement entitled Man and Woman Created He Them said, "One cannot choose between man and woman."

Responding to campaigners who claim that marrying someone you love is a human right regardless of gender, the bishop rebuked, "Two people of the same sex have no right to contract a marriage. The state, for its part, cannot recognise this right which does not exist, without acting in an arbitrary manner."

Concerning homosexual behaviour, the statement addressed, "Homosexual behaviour is always ethically reprehensible even if individual culpability must be judged with prudence... such behaviour is intrinsically bad from the moral point of view."

The bishops declared, "Homosexual tendencies, even if not a sin, must be considered objectively as troubling."

A draft measure giving same-sex marriage equal legal standing with heterosexual unions was approved by the Spanish Government in October. A slippery sliding slope of ethics in policy making has been instigated following the controversial change of marriage law. Proposals for more liberalised abortion and divorce law were also suggested.

The socialist-dominated parliament voted in November to legalise gay marriages and give gay couples the right to adopt children. While the policy will take effect from next year, the Church urges the government plans "must be opposed clearly and incisively".

Interviewed by Daily ABC last Sunday - the Family and Life Day - for the statement has published, the head of the Catholic Church in Spain, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, said that homosexuals should not be "ill-treated, injured or marginalised" but could not be "placed on the same level as the family".

The bishops emphasised in the statement, "Marriage is always and solely the union of a man and a woman."

In fact, it is not only the Catholic Church of Spain that has declared war on government plans to liberalise marriage, divorce and abortion laws, but also the Vatican has warned the Spanish parliament against these "unethical policies".

Earlier this month, Pope John Paul II accused gays of an "aggressive attempt to legally undermine the family." Last Sunday, the Pope said he was praying that the Holy Family "keep watch on all the families of the world, especially those who face difficult conditions."

"Likewise, help men of culture and political leaders so they can defend the family institution based on marriage and sustain it in facing the grave challenges of present times," he added.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist government have been leading a series of social reforms since they won the General Election in March, claiming to bring more "democracy" to the Spanish people.

Juan Antonio Martinez Campo, a spokesman for the Spanish Bishops' Conference warned permitting same-sex marriage would be like "imposing a virus on society".

The legalisation of same-sex marriage in Spain puts the country one step closer to joining Belgium and the Netherlands as the only nations to recognise such unions.