Vatican spokesman rues media ‘intimidation’ on same-sex marriage, coverage of Pope’s message
December 17, 2012
Lamenting Italian media coverage of Pope Benedict’s treatment of marriage in his message for the World Day of Peace, the director of the Holy See Press Office called upon “everyone to read the document in full, and objectively.”
“There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union; such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society,” Pope Benedict wrote in his message. “These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom. They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity.”
“The Pope, in a short passage, returns to the vision of marriage between a man and a woman as profoundly different from radically other forms of union, and states that this difference is recognizable by human reason,” said Father Federico Lombardi. “Along with other fundamental principles of a correct view of person and society, primarily the dignity of all human life, we need to defend the institution of marriage if we would build peace on solid foundations and seek the good of human society with foresight. This is the view that the Church never tires of stressing, at a time when this point is being challenged and even attacked from several quarters in many different countries.”
“This is all well known,” Father Lombardi added. “It is not in the least surprising. The reaction is therefore lacking in decent composure and sense of proportion: it consists in shouting, not in reasoning; it is intended to intimidate those who want to support this view freely in the public arena. Not only: such a reaction is meant to obscure many of the aspects of the papal message, which are of an extraordinary relevance and strength.”
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Further information:
- Lombardi editorial: read Pope's Peace Message objectively (Vatican Radio)
- Respect for human nature is key to peace, Pope writes in annual message (CWN, 12/14)
- Full text of Pope Benedict’s message (Catholic Culture)
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