Italian high court finds no difference between traditional family, cohabiting couple

August 11, 2009

Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, has come to the defense of the traditional family after Italy’s highest court ruled that there is “no substantial legal difference between a family founded on marriage and a family resulting from a cohabiting couple,” according to a Catholic News Service report.

“I view with concern this progressive slide toward a further privatization of the family, as if the family were irrelevant for society,” Cardinal Antonelli told Vatican Radio. “Recent sociological research in various countries has highlighted a series of benefits that the so-called traditional family brings to society, and the numerous damages which the supposed new forms of family-- like the single-parent family and cohabitation-- bring to society.”

Cardinal Antonelli, who had previously served as archbishop of Florence, was appointed president of the Pontifical Council for the Family in 2008.

 

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Further information:

• Matrimonio e convivenze: la riflessione del cardinale Antonelli e del prof. Dalla Torre dopo una sentenza della Cassazione (Vatican Radio)
• Traditional family vital for modern society, Vatican official says (CNS)