Lima, Peru, Sep 11, 2009 / 17:45 pm

The vice president of the Bishops’ Conference of Uruguay, Bishop Rodolfo Wirz, is  lamenting the recent approval by the Uruguayan Senate of a law allowing homosexuals to adopt. The measure, the bishop said, “is a wrong decision that is going to jeopardize all society ,but especially our children” and is “a step backwards for development.”
 
Bishop Wirz told CNA that the Church respects homosexual persons but that when it comes to the issue of “adoption, that is, raising a girl or boy whose identity is at stake, and of the complementarity between fatherhood and motherhood, beyond the religious dimension, we think this measure is inappropriate, it is counterproductive and of no benefit to our society.”
 
“I think the passage of this law is a step backwards for the development of society,” he continued.  “Moreover, being the first Latin American country to pass a law allowing homosexuals to adopt is not a point in our favor; rather, it is unfortunate and sad because this is not the way to help boys and girls who need to be adopted,” he said.
 
Defending the family
 
After pointing out that the decision by the Uruguayan Senate “goes beyond the religions dimension,” Bishop Wirz recalled that “in the humanistic dimension the family needs to be defended, not only as the basic cell of the Church but of society as well, as the Constitution acknowledges.”
 
“The stable relationship between a man and a woman who will be physically and spiritually fertile through adoption needs to be defended,” the bishop continued.  “The family needs all the legal support and appreciation society can give, all of the Church’s contribution in the spiritual dimension, so that it can be strengthened, so that it can continue to be the basic cell” of society, he said.
 
“Without a doubt the family, more than ever, needs to be explicitly and directly defended and supported,” Bishop Wirz stressed.  “We must be very clear about this issue because it affects us all.  At the same time, we must discuss this cordially, helping people to see the benefit of a stable relationship
between a man and a woman who form a marriage.”