The opposition by Church authorities to the bill on the right to “marriage for all” (and consequently the right to adoption) will be expressed next Sunday in Paris with a march organized by “anti” associations. A special train with 1,000 people will bring demonstrators from Nice to the capital. A prayer vigil will take place this Saturday at the Antibes Cathedral. It feels like we’re in another time…
It is important to remember that while all opinions are legitimate to express, the law concerns exclusively civil marriage.
For the Catholic Church, there is not the slightest doubt: the prohibition of marriage between two people of the same sex is part of the *non-negotiable principles*: “God created human beings male and female, with the same dignity but also with inherent and complementary characteristics so that the two may be a gift to each other, mutually enhancing each other and realizing a communion of love and life,” affirms Pope Benedict XVI.
It nonetheless remains true that some questions deserve answers:
Can one recognize the relationship between two homosexual people and contest an essential dimension of their love?
For those who choose it, can marriage be an institution through which society recognizes as beneficial a lasting union between two beings who are both equal and different?
The debate is only just beginning…
