Vatican assails laws endorsing gay unions
 
Frank Bruni/NYT NYT
Friday, August 1, 2003
VATICAN CITY Worried about the spread of laws that recognize same-sex couples, the Vatican on Thursday urged Roman Catholic lawmakers and others to fight back, calling support for such legislation ‘‘gravely immoral.’’
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That unwavering appeal came in a strongly worded, 12-page document that was approved by Pope John Paul II and devoted to homosexuality, gay marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians, issues that have stirred fervent debate recently in North America and Europe.
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‘‘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,’’ the document says, asserting repeatedly that marriage should be reserved for heterosexual couples.
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‘‘Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law,’’ it says.
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The document, published in several languages including English, also contains a special admonition for Catholic lawmakers in legislative bodies that are considering laws to recognize same-sex unions or permit gays and lesbians to marry or adopt children.
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‘‘To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral,’’ the document says.
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Although the document had been in the works for months and reiterates positions that the pope had already made clear, it represents an unusually thorough and emphatic presentation of those viewpoints.
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It also comes at an especially charged moment.
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President George W. Bush announced on Wednesday that his administration was looking into ways to ensure that the term ‘‘marriage’’ would apply only to unions between men and women. Republican congressional leaders have floated the idea of a constitutional amendment to do just that.
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Those developments reflect some lawmakers’ concern over an apparently growing acceptance of homosexuality, evident in American public opinion polls, a profusion of gay characters and themes on American television and legal developments in some states.
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The acceptance has limits. A Gallup Poll in May showed that Americans were evenly split on the question of whether gay couples should be allowed to enter into legally recognized unions, with 49 percent of respondents in favor and 49 percent against. But two Canadian provinces recently have legalized same-sex marriages. So has the Netherlands.
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Other European governments have formally recognized same-sex unions or are moving in that direction, an example of a widening chasm between Catholic teaching and European law that the pope has frequently decried.
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Homosexuality is the dominant issue at a convention this week of the Episcopal Church USA, which is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The convention is deliberating whether to confirm an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire and whether to create a blessing for same-sex unions.
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Conservative Episcopalians and Anglicans have threatened a schism if the convention votes in favor of those measures. A final resolution is expected within the next week.
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The practical effect of the Vatican document is uncertain, as one Vatican official acknowledged Thursday.
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‘‘We have to preach our principle, even if we know that many people won’t abide by it,’’ said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ‘‘The Vatican is worried, because we think marriage should be between a man and a woman.’’
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Many Catholic lawmakers in the United States and Europe have long bucked the church on a range of issues, including abortion rights, which the church opposes.
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Additionally, many of the estimated 65 million Roman Catholics in the United States — almost one in four Americans — pick and choose which of the pope’s pronouncements to obey.
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‘‘Vatican officials seem to think that they still have the same kind of credibility they once had, and they don’t,’’ said the Reverend Andrew Greeley, a leading Catholic sociologist in the United States.
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‘‘I’m not saying that’s good or bad, but that’s certainly what the evidence seems to show,’’ Greeley said, adding that there is much greater acceptance of homosexuality among American Catholics today than there was a decade ago.
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He was not certain, he added, if that acceptance went as far as approval of same-sex unions.
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Congress is unlikely to entertain any legislation that supports such unions.

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