Vatican blasts 'deplorable' gay marriages

The Catholic Church believes homsexual acts are a sin

VATICAN CITY, Italy -- The Vatican has launched a new offensive against legislative moves that give unmarried couples, both heterosexual and gay, the same rights as partners in a traditional marriage.

In a 76-page document written by its department on family matters, the Vatican said that moves to legitimise heterosexual common-law unions were wrong but doing so for homosexual unions was "much more grave."

The document titled "Family, Marriage and 'De Facto' Unions" was interpreted as an attempt by the Vatican to stem the tide of moves in Europe and North America to give common-law couples equal rights in areas including adoption, pensions, citizenship and taxes.

It called homosexual unions "a deplorable distortion" and attacked attempts to permit the adoption of children by homosexual couples.

MESSAGE BOARD Gay rights

The Vatican document said: "Marriage cannot be reduced to a condition similar to that of a homosexual relationship. This is contrary to common sense."

It called attempts to allow homosexual couples to adopt children "an element of great danger."

The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexual relations are not sinful, homosexual acts are.

Strong language was also used to criticise attempts to give common-law marriages legal equality with traditional marriages.

The Vatican document states: "In today's open and democratic societies, the state and the public authorities must not institutionalise de facto unions, thereby giving them a status similar to marriage and the family, nor much less make them equivalent to the family based on marriage.

"This would be an arbitrary use of power which does not contribute to the common good because the original nature of marriage and the family precedes and exceeds, in an absolute and radical way, the sovereign power of the state."

Saying de facto unions often characterised "a strong assertion not to take on any ties" and a "conception of love detached from any responsibility," the document called them inherently unstable.

Giving unmarried couples the same legal status as a married couple was "a serious sign of the contemporary breakdown in the social moral conscience."

"De facto unions are the result of private behaviour and should remain on the private level. Their public recognition or equivalency to marriage...damages the family based on marriage," it said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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