Defend traditional family, rights of others, archbishop says

(Feb. 05, 2013) While the Catholic Church opposes legal sanctions against homosexuality and favours legal protections for unmarried people living together, it must defend traditional marriage for the good of society, said the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, council president, said the Catholic Church affirms "the equal dignity of every child of God. No one lacks the dignity of being a child of God, so that is untouchable." While the church opposes recognizing gay unions as "marriage," he said, it affirms the full dignity of homosexual men and women.
Archbishop Paglia called for greater efforts to ensure legal protection and inheritance rights for people who are living together, but not married. "To promote justice and to protect the weak," he said, legal means must be found to guarantee rights and regulate inheritance. "But do not call it marriage," he said. As an increasing number of states and nations move toward recognizing same-sex unions, he said Western societies "risk making decisions which can have consequences" that people haven't thought about. "
Meeting journalists at the Vatican on Monday (Feb. 4), Archbishop Paglia presented several of his council's planned activities for 2013, including coordination of the Oct. 26-27 international Pilgrimage of Families to the Vatican for the Year of Faith.