Buenos Aires governor should appeal ruling on homosexual 'marriage,' Cardinal Bergoglio says

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov 25, 2009 / 17:01 pm

The Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, said this week that the governor of Buenos Aires should have appealed a ruling by a judge allowing homosexual “marriage.” In not doing so, said the cardinal, the governor has failed “gravely in his duty as governor and custodian of the law.”

The cardinal's comments came in response to the inaction by Buenos Aires Governor Mauricio Macri, who did not appeal a ruling that declared two articles of the Civil Code of Argentina unconstitutional.  The articles would have established that marriage must be celebrated between one man and one woman.

The Archdiocese of Buenos Aires issued a statement following a private meeting between Macri, and Cardinal Bergoglio.

The statement said that during the meeting, “Cardinal Bergoglio reiterated that in not appealing the ruling on marriage between persons of the same sex, he gravely failed in his duty as governor and custodian of the law.”

“The Constitution and national Codes cannot be modified by a lower court judge (as in this case).  In such a case the Executive has the duty to take measures to ensure the legality of the ruling, which is not the case here, and thus there is an obligation to appeal,” the archdiocesan statement explained.