Vatican spokesman emphasizes Church’s defense of marriage
November 12, 2012
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In the face of political support for same-sex marriage in Spain, France, and the United States, the Church will not cease “proposing that society recognize a specific place for marriage between a man and a woman,” the director of the Holy See Press Office said in his weekly editorial.
“In western countries there is a widespread tendency to modify the classic vision of marriage between a man and woman, or rather to try to give it up, erasing its specific and privileged legal recognition compared to other forms of union,” said Father Federico Lombardi.
“It is a question of admitting that a husband and a wife are publicly recognized as such, and that children who come into the world can know, and say they have, a father and a mother,” he added. “In short, preserving a vision of the human person and of human relationships where there is a public acknowledgement of monogamous marriage between a man and woman is an achievement of civilization.”
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Posted by: TheJournalist64 -
Nov. 12, 2012 9:16 PM ET USA
We are likely at a point where, like many countries, Catholic clergy will have to give up their ability to witness marriage for the state, and require that a civil authority have witnessed the marriage before the sacrament can be administered. That is probably the only way we can preserve the sacrament from defilement.
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Posted by: Mirabilis -
Nov. 12, 2012 8:55 AM ET USA
This phrase "compared to other forms of union” is precarious at best. Exactly what other forms of union is Lombardi referring to? The whole principle of Catholic teaching is that man and woman are the only persons capable of a chosen "union." Other relationships may be close and emotionally intimate but they are not unions even if the individuals desire them to be so and call them as such.
