Spanish politician calls on lawmakers to vote with their Catholic conscience on homosexual unions

Madrid, Spain, Jul 27, 2004 / 22:00 pm

A leading Catholic politician from the Spanish region of Galicia, Manuel Fraga, said this week the vote by Catholic lawmakers on the approval of a law making homosexual unions equivalent to marriage "is a question of conscience" and should be in tune with the Church's exhortation to reject it.

According to Fraga, the position of the bishops is above "everything else," including party loyalty.

"Those who consider themselves Catholics must listen to this call," said Fraga in reference to the bishops' request that Catholic lawmakers oppose any measure that would legalize homosexual unions.

"The Catholic lawmaker has the moral duty to clearly and publicly express his disapproval and to vote against the law that seeks to legalize homosexual unions in some way," the bishops recently wrote in a letter addressing the issue.

In their statement the bishops exhorted "Catholics especially, to do everything that his legitimately within their power in our democratic system to ensure that the laws of our country favor only true marriage."