Pope condemns gay marriage and the ‘abortion pill’

POPE Benedict, speaking out on hot topics that will figure in the campaigning for this year’s Italian general elections, yesterday condemned gay marriage and the use of the so-called “abortion pill.”

He was attacked by gay leaders and leftist politicians who accused him of interfering in domestic affairs.

Benedict, speaking to political leaders of the Rome region, said marriage was not a “casual, sociological entity” but “a question of the correct relationship between a man and a woman.”

Italy goes to the polls on April 9 and the Church’s position on issues could play a role in the result.

Italy’s Catholic Church has already served notice to the centre-left that it will fight any move to recognise civil partnership for unwed heterosexual couples and gay couples.

Leader of centre-left bloc The Union, Romano Prodi, has promised recognition for unmarried couples but has stopped short of supporting gay marriage.

Leftist parliamentarian Franco Grillini, who is gay, said: “The Pope is interfering heavily in Italian politics and behaving like the leader of a political party.”

Italy’s centre-left supports legal recognition for gay or unwed heterosexual couples similar to that in France. French unmarried couples have the right to joint social security, limited inheritance rights and other benefits.

The Pope’s words won support from centre-right politicians, most of whom oppose legal recognition of unwed heterosexual couples or gay unions.

Government minister Roberto Calderoli said: “What the Pope said is the most sacrosanct thing in the world.”

The Pope also spoke out against the so-called ‘abortion pill’, RU-486, whose use has been the subject of national debate.

The pill blocks the action of progesterone, needed to sustain a pregnancy.

While he did not mention it by name, he said politicians should not “introduce pharmaceuticals that in one way or another hide the grave nature of abortion.”

Italian Church leaders fear wider use of the pill, in use in about 30 countries, will make abortion more appealing to women.