Posted on 01/13/2007 6:19:36 AM PST by NYer
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday reiterated his opposition to civil unions as Italy's government prepares to grant legal recognition to unmarried couples regardless of sexual orientation.
"Plans to give legal recognition to other forms of union (than marriage) ... appear dangerous and counterproductive, because they will inevitably weaken and destabilize the legitimate family based on marriage," he told political leaders of Rome's Lazio region including Rome's left-wing Mayor Walter Veltroni.
The center-left government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi has promised to submit a bill on civil unions -- part of his coalition's election manifesto last April -- by the end of January.
In the meantime parliamentary leaders of several parties making up Prodi's wide-ranging coalition have already developed their own versions of such a law.
Granting legal status to gay couples has been a subject of dispute not only between right and left in socially conservative Italy but also within Prodi's Union coalition.
The coalition includes parties with Catholic or Christian Democrat roots that have come under intense pressure from the Vatican over the proposal.
The pope said Thursday that "the family founded on marriage (is) a basic human good."
He called for measures to help young couples found families by increasing the number of day care centers and elementary schools, boosting employment for young people and bringing down housing costs.
The Italian Senate's justice committee began examining proposals for legalizing civil unions on Wednesday.
Gay and lesbian associations demonstrate on St. Peter's square against Pope Benedict XVI's latest speech on PACS, Italy's proposed social agreement for unmarried couples, at the Vatican January 13, 2007 in Rome. REUTERS/Dario Pignatelli (VATICAN)
AP - Sat Jan 13, 8:56 AM ET
Italian ARCIGAY gay rights association activists hold flags in Rome during a demonstration in front of the Vatican, Saturday Jan. 13, 2007, to remember gay poet Alfredo Ormando who died 11 days after setting himself on fire in St. Peter's Square on Jan. 13, 1998. In background is St. Peter's Basilica. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Vatican Document On Homosexual Unions
Homosexual unions are totally lacking in the biological and anthropological elements of marriage and family which would be the basis, on the level of reason, for granting them legal recognition. Such unions are not able to contribute in a proper way to the procreation and survival of the human race. The possibility of using recently discovered methods of artificial reproduction, beyond involving a grave lack of respect for human dignity,(15) does nothing to alter this inadequacy.
CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING PROPOSALS TO GIVE LEGAL RECOGNITION TO UNIONS BETWEEN HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS
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Its times like this to be thankful that Vatican City is its own country.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
??? Californians started all this. But no. Everything's just hunky-dory at home. It's only the evil Euros who do anything bad. Jeez. Talk about selective vision. When we do it, we're the greatest nation on earth. When others do it after we do it- they're doomed.
Thanks for your advice, all the same.
Celibacy is a discipline obligatory in the Western (Roman Catholic) but not in the Eastern Catholic Churches. It begins with Christ.
The first assertion we still make is that priestly celibacy is relevant because our Lord Jesus Christ is relevant who, consecrated Supreme and Eternal Priest by the Father, chose to live his priesthood in chastity and celibacy. We cannot forget, Pope Paul VI states in the encyclical Sacerdotalis coelibatus, that the Son of God, who assumed a perfect human nature and raised marriage to the dignity of a sacrament, remained throughout his own earthly life in a state of perfect virginity, to signify his total dedication to the service of God and the human race.1
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Did I miss Pope Benedict pushing stone walls over on these people?
Forgive me if I sound harsh, but I find it the height of bad manners for you, as a non-Catholic, to lecture Catholics on how they are responsible for the death of Europe....particularly since northern Europe is PROTESTANT, in case you didn't notice. In other parts of the world the population is growing, and I suppose you will blame THAT on the Church as well, and it will be bad because it is a growing body of non-Europeans.
I do not go onto threads and lecture Baptists or Methodists about my perceptions of their church's failings. It is rude and not very Christian, in my opinion. I expect the same courtesy from people who are not Catholic, like you.
Time somebody said this. Thank you.
Vocations Surge
The Priest Shortage Isnt Over, But Seminaries Are Filling Up
BY TIM DRAKE
REGISTER SENIOR WRITER
January 14-20, 2007 Issue
http://ncregister.com/site/article/1733
Posted here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1766684/posts
Set a bunch of Swiss halberdiers on them, but with combat halberds, not with ceremonial ones.
I thought you were Jewish -- don't you think you should be preaching this particular sermon to Israel (and to American Jews)? Twenty years ago, when Begin was vowing that he would never give up Judea and Shomron, my (Israeli) Hebrew teacher pointed out that, if he didn't, we were looking at a minority-Jewish Israel because of the difference in birth rates. Has anything changed?
Agreed Miss Marple.
How odd that in 2007 celibacy leads to low birth rates, yet 40 years ago Catholicism was known for very large families. Celibacy didn't change, what did?
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