Vatican Statement Against Homosexual Unions Encourages Pro-Family Advocates     8/6/2003
By Allyson Smith

Catholic document clearly opposes ‘gay adoption’ as harming children

A new Vatican statement condemning homosexual “marriage” and other forms of legal recognition for homosexual relationships--equating “gay” adoptions with violence against children, and warning Catholic politicians of their moral duty to oppose “gay” legislation--is being hailed as one of the most principled and forceful statements to come from any Christian denomination on the contentious topic of homosexual unions.

Titled “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons,” the document unambiguously calls homosexual relationships and behavior “evil,” “deviant,” and a “serious depravity.” It debunks misunderstandings common today about the nature and purpose of holy matrimony, and bases its arguments on “right reason” and the natural law in order to appeal “not only to those who believe in Christ, but to all persons committed to promoting and defending the common good of society.”

Considerations was released July 31 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the Vatican’s top doctrinal agency, just one day after President Bush expressed strong support for the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

This “double whammy,” combined with recent polls showing declining public support for homosexual unions, has dampened the elation homosexual activists felt a few weeks ago when Canada legalized homosexual marriages and the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Texas’ sodomy law.

CDF secretary Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger signed the document on June 3, the memorial of 19th-century martyrs Charles Lwanga and his companions, who were put to death — some by the sword, others by burning — for refusing the homosexual advances of a pagan Ugandan king.

Strong language from the starting gate

From the outset, Considerations minces no words. The introduction describes homosexuality as a “troubling moral and social phenomenon” – and the language only gets stronger from there.

The document makes clear that Catholic teaching on marriage is not exclusive to the church but is instead based on “a truth that is evident to right reason and recognized as such by all the major cultures of the world.” It further states, “Marriage is not just any relationship between human beings,” and “No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman.”

While reiterating the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that persons inclined toward same-sex acts must be treated with respect and compassion, Considerations also reminds readers that sacred Scripture condemns homosexual acts as “a serious depravity” and that the inclination to such acts is “objectively disordered.”

The document flatly asserts, “There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law.”

Christians must witness ‘the whole moral truth’

In the section titled, “Positions on the problem of homosexual unions,” the CDF discusses various societal approaches toward legalization of homosexual unions, ranging from quiet tolerance to active approval.

In every occasion, “Moral conscience requires that . . . Christians give witness to the whole moral truth, which is contradicted both by approval of homosexual acts and unjust discrimination against homosexual persons.”

The document tells Christians to witness the truth by:

“unmasking the way in which such tolerance might be exploited or used in the service of ideology;

“stating clearly the immoral nature of these unions;

“reminding the government of the need to contain the phenomenon within certain limits so as to safeguard public morality”;

and, “above all, to avoid exposing young people to erroneous ideas about sexuality and marriage that would deprive them of their necessary defenses and contribute to the spread of the phenomenon.”

The section ends by saying that those who actively seek the legitimization of homosexual unions “need to be reminded that the approval or legalization of evil is something far different from the toleration of evil.”

Exposing special rights smokescreens

In the section titled, “Arguments from reason against legal recognition of homosexual unions,” Considerations asserts:

Civil laws are structuring principles of man's life in society, for good or for ill. . . . Lifestyles and the underlying presuppositions these express not only externally shape the life of society, but also tend to modify the younger generation's perception and evaluation of forms of behavior. Legal recognition of homosexual unions would obscure certain basic moral values and cause a devaluation of the institution of marriage.

In arguing against homosexual unions from a biological and anthropological basis, the Vatican says that such unions are “totally lacking in the conjugal dimension, which represents the human and ordered form of sexuality” and “are not able to contribute in a proper way to the procreation and survival of the human race”. Furthermore, recent advances in artificial reproduction technology “[do] nothing to alter this inadequacy.”

In arguing against homosexual unions from the social order, the CDF counters the buzzwords of “respect” and “discrimination,” which are frequently invoked as smokescreens for legislating homosexual special rights, by saying that justice is served rather than denied by opposing same-sex legislation:

The principles of respect and non-discrimination cannot be invoked to support legal recognition of homosexual unions. Differentiating between persons or refusing social recognition or benefits is unacceptable only when it is contrary to justice. The denial of the social and legal status of marriage to forms of cohabitation that are not and cannot be marital is not opposed to justice; on the contrary, justice requires it.

‘Gay’ adoptions do violence to children

In one of the most striking paragraphs of the entire document, the Vatican exposes the selfishness of “gay” adoptions, stating that same-sex adoptive couples create “obstacles in the normal development of children” and deprive kids of “the experience of either fatherhood or motherhood.”

Turning table on the “spiritual violence” mantra that homosexual activist groups like Soulforce routinely level at opponents, the Vatican declares:

Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in [same-sex] unions would actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development. This is gravely immoral and in open contradiction to the principle, recognized also in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, that the best interests of the child, as the weaker and more vulnerable party, are to be the paramount consideration in every case.

Parting shot at politicians

Section IV of Considerations takes aim at Catholic politicians, reminding them that they have a moral duty to express opposition to same-sex union legislation “clearly and publicly and to vote against it.”

The Vatican adds that it is “gravely immoral” for Catholic politicians “to vote in favor of a law that is so harmful to the common good” — in other words, by doing so, they commit a mortal sin.

In cases where same-sex legislation has already been enacted, the Catholic politician must make known his or her personal opposition to it, support proposals limiting the harmful effects of such laws, and make a “legitimate and dutiful attempt to obtain at least the partial repeal” of such a law in cases where it cannot be completely overturned at the moment.

The document concludes:

Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behavior, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity.

“Gay” activists and pols react unhappily

Predictably, the document invoked a firestorm of criticism from “gay Catholic” groups and some leading U.S. politicians who call themselves Catholic.

The U.S. Rainbow Sash Movement accused the Vatican of “promoting homophobia” and justifying anti-Semitism with the document, which it termed lacking in “compassion, love and charity in treating Gays with dignity and respect.”

Marianne Duddy, executive director of Dignity USA, a non-Vatican-approved group that condones homosexual behavior, called the document “an absolute perversion of the Catholic social justice tradition.”

Duddy added, "The Vatican has poured out increasingly harsh rhetoric against equal civil protections for committed gay and lesbian couples and our families in recent years,” and she predicted, “Lay Catholics and politicians will resent the Vatican's unwarranted intrusion into our civil lives.”

Duddy’s prediction about politicians’ reactions has already come true. The same day Considerations was released, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) introduced the Permanent Partners Immigration Act (PPIA), a measure that would give same-sex couples equal immigration benefits under the law.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), who also claims to be Catholic, said that Pope John Paul II inappropriately “crossed the line” by attempting to instruct U.S. lawmakers, according to an August 2 Boston Herald report. And Oregon’s Catholic governor, Ted Kulongoski, brushed Rome aside when he told Oregon Public Broadcasting on August 4 that he would sign a bill to recognize same-sex unions.

Chicago Cardinal slams Sun-Times’ “false accusation”

A Chicago Sun-Times story with the headline, “Pope Launches Global Campaign against Gays,” prompted Cardinal Francis George to declare from the pulpit August 4 that the headline was a “false accusation” against Pope John Paul II.

Stating neither a government nor the church has the authority to change the nature of marriage, George confirmed, “A government that claims such authority becomes totalitarian.”

George also scored pro-homosexual propaganda for perverting “obvious truths”:

Because of a concerted campaign in movies and TV shows in recent years to shape public imagination and opinion into accepting same-sex relations as normal and morally unexceptional, obvious truths now are considered evidence of homophobia. Because a morality based upon desires has largely supplanted a morality based upon the truth of things, a teaching which limits sexual self-expression of any sort becomes oppressive.

The Cardinal further warned Catholics: “Divulging disinformation about the Pope” and “engaging in anti-papal propaganda . . . is usually, in history, a preparation for active persecution of the church.” He asked:

What does the printing of a false accusation against the Pope in a major Chicago daily say about anti-Catholicism here? This is a question I never believed I would have to ask. The Catholic Church was here before any newspaper, before the incorporation of the city of Chicago or the establishment of the State of Illinois. The church has been the instrument used by Christ to make thousands of Chicagoans holy. She has preached the Gospel and made the sacraments available, she has educated and healed, served the poor and raised a voice for justice. We Catholics are sinners and, at this moment, we are especially shamed by the terrible sins of some priests and bishops; but the church remains holy in her gifts from her Lord. If her moral teaching were honored in our conduct, there would be no sexual abuse of anyone, no rape or betrayal of marriage, no sexual promiscuity parading as freedom, no fraud in business or government, no false accusations or lies, published or unpublished.

The Cardinal concluded, “I have written a letter of apology to Pope John Paul II. He has visited this city many times and always asks of it fondly. He does not think of it as a center of anti-Catholicism. For the first time in my life, I hesitated as I signed my title. I’m ashamed that this false accusation against the Pope was made in our city.”

Catholic hierarchy, laity overjoyed, galvanized

Catholic prelates and laity, however, are rejoicing over Considerations. Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, welcomed the document, saying it notes “the danger of establishing a legal equivalence between marriage and homosexual relationships as has happened both in Europe and in North America.”

The document has also galvanized Canadian Catholics. According to LifesiteNews.com, Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic of Toronto sent a letter to all Toronto parishes last week saying, “It is imperative that we speak publicly and clearly about what is referred to as the ‘same-sex marriage,’” and Calgary Bishop Fred Henry told Sun Media that he would refuse to give Holy Communion to Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center applauded the Vatican's opposition to the legal recognition of homosexual unions as a “call to arms,” while Catholic League president William Donohue called Considerations a “reality check” for Catholics.

Donahue added, “The Catholic League is particularly delighted that this strong statement in favor of marriage, as it has been traditionally understood all over the world and throughout all of time, comes in the wake of the sex abuse scandal in the church. It sends an unmistakable message that just because a tiny few in the priesthood have embarrassed the church by having sex — mostly with men! — this does not mean that the church will silence its voice on matters sexual.”

Printer Friendly Version

Recent Articles

Homosexuals Say They’ll Ignore No-Protest Order in Jerusalem

The Top Ten Da Vinci Code Distortions

Baseball’s Latest Scandal: Going After the Church

'A Superhero for Choice'

ACLU Seeks Mandatory Homosexual Sensitivity Training

Virgins Not Allowed!

Christian Activist Marcavage to Appeal Rejection of Lawsuit against Temple University

CWA’s Knight to Speak on Suburban Washington Sex-Ed Curriculum

New Genetics Study Undermines Gay Gene Theory

Apology Not Enough for ABC’s ‘Monday Nude Football’ Skit