Madrid, Spain, Sep 7, 2004 / 22:00 pm

Responding to the Spanish government’s announcement that it will be sending a bill to the House of Representatives that would make homosexual unions equivalent to marriage, Bishop Rafael Palmero Ramos of Palencia, Spain, said the measure is juridically and morally unacceptable, because it is “irrational.”

Explaining that the only true marriage is that between a man and a woman, as God has established in nature itself, Bishop Palmero pointed out that “this measure seeks to grant legal cover to something that is juridically and morally unacceptable, because it is irrational.”

While he underscored the “inalienable personal dignity” of every human being, “which nobody can nor should disparage or discriminate,” Bishop Palmero said that “nevertheless, although we all have equal dignity, we do not all have the same rights.”

“The nature of rights, said Cicero, must be deduced from the nature of man.  And if the nature, both physical and psychological, of man and woman is distinct, so too are their rights.  Thus their complementarity, which does not exist in a union of two men or two women,” he explained.
 
Bishop Palmero explained that “therefore there can be no marriage besides that between persons of the opposite sex.”  “This is a requirement of the natural order.  For the same reason, two persons of the same sex have no right whatsoever to enter into marriage.”

“For this reason the government should not recognize this non-existent right, nor give legal support to something that attacks the very nature of the institution and the common good of society,” he said.

Likewise, Bishop Palmero defended marriage as an adequate means of fulfillment for those who enter into it.  “Only in marriage can children learn the two most important social virtues, love of neighbor and justice.  It is difficult, for the same reason, that same-sex unions can contribute to the perfection of those who enter into them.  Since they lack mutual sexual differences, they will be deprived of natural complementarity.”

Regarding the adoption of children by homosexual couples, Bishop Palmero said that such children “would be deprived of the fundamental right to a father and a mother and their respective psychological and emotional contributions to a wholesome sexual identity in their childhood and adolescence, such that, when lacking, are difficult to replace.”

The bishop also underscored that if the Socialist government “makes homosexual unions equal with marriage, it will be endangering the institution of marriage and the just social order, and do nothing to overcome the alarming demographic crisis” in Spain.

In conclusion, Bishop Palmero united his voice “with those who wish to sound the alarm.  Not only Catholics, but all those who want to be lead by reason, should think about this before it is too late, to avoid allowing laws to be passed in Spain that attack the true and only form of marriage.”