Vatican: Pope Seeks Alliances to Oppose Same-Sex Marriage

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/world/europe/pope-seeks-alliances-to-oppose-same-sex-marriage.html

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Pope Benedict XVI on Friday signaled that the Vatican was ready to forge alliances with other religions against same-sex marriage, saying the family was threatened “to its foundations” by attempts to change its “true structure.” The pope’s latest denunciation of same-sex marriage came in a Christmas address to Vatican officials in which he blended religion, philosophy, anthropology and sociology to illustrate the position of the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican has gone on the offensive in response to gains for same-sex marriage in the United States and Europe, using every possible opportunity to denounce it through papal speeches or editorials in its newspaper or on its radio station. Throwing the full weight of his office behind a study by France’s chief rabbi on the effects the legalization of same-sex marriage would have on children and society, he said: “There is no denying the crisis that threatens it (the family) to its foundations — especially in the Western world.” The family had to be protected because it was “the authentic setting in which to hand on the blueprint of human existence,” he added.