VALENCIA, Spain, APR. 1, 2001 (Zenit.org).- The autonomous community of Valencia has approved a law recognizing homosexual unions.
Upon hearing the news, Archbishop Agustín Garcia-Gasco of Valencia lamented that «there was not a single political voice that mentioned the possible dangers» that the measure poses to the family.
The measure had the support of the Popular Party, which includes Christian Democratic leaders.
The Valencia Courts last Wednesday approved the law of de facto unions, with the sole support of the Popular Party. The law gives juridical recognition to couples who have lived together for at least 12 months. These couples must register in the Autonomous Registry of De Facto Unions.
The opposition Socialist Party and «Esquerra Unida» regard the legal text as «deficient,» saying it reflects no progress in the rights of homosexual couples, since it neither provides for their marriage nor their right to adopt children.
José Rafael Monter, president of the Catholic Confederation of Associations of Parents of Students, who attended the parliamentary debate, said that the law of de facto unions is «a blank page,» which in the future will open the way for homosexual couples to marry and adopt children.
Archbishop García-Gasco said that «this radical separation between faith and politics, which some have demonstrated, is not admissible; much less so can one call oneself a Catholic and challenge or ridicule the doctrine of the Church,» he said.
Likewise, «neither as a person nor as a Catholic can one say that the political vote is above one´s own conscience,» the archbishop stressed. All these «subordinations of one´s faith to political dictates are unworthy of the gift of faith and manifest lack of consistency.»
