Vatican Newspaper Attacks Gay Marriage

The Vatican newspaper has – unsurprisingly – criticised gay marriage.

A front page article in L’Osservatore Romano was on the move towards marriage equality around the world. Gay marriage has already been legalised in numerous countries with many others such as the UK, France and Germany set to allow gay couples to marry within the next few years. In the UK the Catholic Church has been very vocal in its opposition to the prospect of same-sex marriage being legalised. Unsurprisingly the Vatican – and the Pope himself – has also criticised gay equality.

The article in L’Osservatore Romano, which is the semi-official paper of the Vatican, was penned by historian Lucetta Scaraffia. The former feminist activist is now a devout Catholic and has criticised the “deception” of gay equality. The historian believes that people are being “deceived” by gay marriage in the same way they were “deceived” by communism in the 20th century.  Scaraffia wrote that the idea of gay equality is like the “egalitarian utopia that did so much damage during the 20th century … deceiving humanity as socialism did in the past.”

Communist regimes were imposed on Eastern European countries such as Poland, Latvia and (East) Germany by the Soviet Union in the aftermath of World War Two diving Europe between the capitalist and American back Western Europe and the Communist and Russian backed Eastern Europe. The Communist governments remained in power until the late 1980s and early 1990s when they were overthrown and by 1991 even the Soviet Union itself had collapsed.

Meanwhile the Vatican backed Mario Monti has said that the Italian parliament such decide gay rights issues. Mario Monti is currently the Italian Premier but a General Election is due to be held at the end of February and his campaigned is backed by the Vatican. Italy’s former premier Silvio Berlusconi, who Monti replaced in November 2011, is a candidate in the election.  In a newspaper interview Monti is reported to have stated that gay right issues – such as gay marriage – should be decided by parliament and not his own government.

The Vatican’s attacks on gay rights and gay marriage has stepped up in recent months as more countries prepare to introduce marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. In America recently several more states, such as Maryland, have legalised gay marriage while France is pushing ahead with its plans to do so. In the UK it was announced late last year that gay marriage would be introduced by the coalition government.

[Via Pink News]