Madrid, Spain, Jul 5, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain, Antonio Cañizares, reminded “Catholic lawmakers” this week of their “serious responsibility” to oppose the legalization of homosexual marriage.
During Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of Toledo, Archbishop Cañizares underscored that “the union of persons of the same sex is in no way similar or equal to marriage.”
He said a proposal for homosexual marriage that is currently under debate in the Spanish congress is “a deception that contradicts the very essence of marriage and is another type of union that is completely distinct from marriage and goes against a proper anthropology, and its legalization as marriage is a grave injustice against true marriage and society.”
“I cannot nor should not remain silent in the wake of approval this week by a majority in the House of Representatives of an unlawful proposal that calls for the government to submit to Parliament a bill that would approve and regulate so-called ‘marriage’ between persons of the same sex, including the possibility of the adoption of children,” the archbishop said.
He said he respected, understood and cared for homosexuals, but that “it is not even valid to call these homosexual unions marriages…because they disfigure in their very essence what this word means and has meant in all regions of the world and in all times.”
“Such legislation, if it is approved, as the highest levels of the government of Spain have promised, does not constitute a social conquest, but rather a regression,” he added.
The archbishop pointed out that “in an age in which the protection of the institution of the family should be first among the concerns of governments in developed countries, which are trapped in the onset of a demographic winter and in growing crime rates among young people from broken homes and redefined families, the proposal of homosexual marriage and the fact that governments accept it demonstrates a grave disorder in the dominant culture’s mentality.”
Archbishop Cañizares said this type of legislation is “evil” because it is an attack on the common good and the truth about man, and therefore he reminded lawmakers, especially those that are Catholic, of their “grave responsibility to oppose” with their vote this type of legislation.
“They should not try to intimidate us by threatening to hit us in the pocketbook; the Church knows how to live in poverty; what she does not nor should not know how to do is to live without announcing Jesus Christ and the sole Lordship of God, or to sell herself for money,” he warned.