Reuters is reporting that the Vatican has put out several strong statements within the last week in which they stand firm in the Church's unequivocal opposition to same-sex marriage.
"It is clear that in Western countries there is a widespread tendency to modify the classic vision of marriage between a man and woman, or rather to try to give it up, erasing its specific and privileged legal recognition compared to other forms of union," said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi in a recent editorial on Vatican Radio.
Referring to the three latest U.S. states to approve the unions at the ballot box last week - Maryland, Maine and Washington - Lombardi called the votes narrow-minded, saying "the logic of it cannot have a far-sighted outlook for the common good."
"If not, why not contemplate also freely chosen polygamy and, of course, not to discriminate, polyandry?" he said, referring to relationships where a woman has more than one husband.
Gains for same-sex marriage were also made in Spain last week where the country's highest court upheld a gay marriage law. In France, the socialist government has also introduced a draft law that would allow homosexuals to marry.
Responding to these developments in Europe, an editorial in Friday's edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, said support for gay marriage is "an ideology founded on political correctness which is invading every culture of the world."
"The Church is the only institution to say that, while persecuting homosexuals is undoubtedly unjust, opposing marriage between people of the same sex is a point of view that must be respected," the editorial said.
It also referred to local Catholic churches throughout the world as being "the sentinels of religious freedom" because gay marriage laws inevitably lead to the destruction of religious liberty for those who oppose those laws.
The Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin, but homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. While the rights of homosexuals should be upheld, their unions should never be recognized as being equal to heterosexuals, nor should same-sex couples be permitted to adopt.
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