Cardinal denounces agenda against marriage in Peru

Lima, Peru, Jan 25, 2011 / 12:02 pm

Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima, Peru recently spoke out against the push to legalize same-sex “marriage” in the country.

The cardinal criticized the proposals of some presidential and congressional candidates to legalize gay “marriage” or civil unions for same-sex partners.  In reality, he said, they are the same thing.

Cardinal Cipriani's remarks came during his radio program Dialogue of Faith on Jan. 22.

He then noted that the Peruvian state does not have to reflect the beliefs of a particular religion, but it should base its laws on respect for the natural order.

“The non-sectarian state understands that from the anthropological, philosophical and anatomical point of view, the natural order … is the complementarity between one man and one woman in the institution of marriage,” he explained.

The cardinal called it strange that a society claiming to be “pluralist and tolerant” does not want the Church to teach Catholics “that marriage has always been between a man and a woman.”

The Peru Posible Party's vice presidential candidate, Carlos Bruce, told the newspaper El Comercio on Jan. 17 that his party will advance same-sex “marriage” if it wins the April 10 presidential elections.

Presidential candidate Manuel Rodriguez Cuadros, as well as congressional candidate Kenji Fujimori of the Social Force Party are also backing proposals for gay “marriage.”

Candidates Luis Castaneda of the National Solidarity Party, and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski of the Alliance for Great Change, have voiced their opposition to such proposals, but they said they would support “civil unions.”

In Latin America, only Argentina and Mexico City have made same-sex unions equivalent to marriage.