Spanish bishop says government has caved in to homosexual “lobby”

Madrid, Spain, Aug 10, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The bishop of Segorbe-Castelló and president of the bishops’ Subcommittee on the Family and Defense of Life, Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Pla, said the Spanish government has caved in to “pressure from the gay lobby” by accepting legal marriage for homosexuals.

Speaking to the Alba newspaper, published by the Diocese of Sergorbe-Castelló, Bishop Reig Pla said the socialist initiative goes against Western tradition based on Roman law and against Christian tradition.

He said that what is being presented as a social revolution is seen by the Church as an action that “attempts to subvert the natural order desired by God.”  The bishop said the Church tolerates the “homosexual inclination” but does not consider it a stable expression of human sexuality.  Rather, it is a condition that can be overcome.  A vote by Catholic politicians against homosexual marriage, he said, represents therefore “coherence between faith and life.”