By Nieves San Martin
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, AUG. 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Uruguay will be the first country of Latin America to allow homosexual couples to adopt children.
The approval of the Adoption Law aroused the criticism of the Church through Archbishop Nicolas Cotugno of Montevideo, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Family.
On Thursday, the Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies approved alterations to the Adoption Law, allowing same-sex couples who have been either married or living together for four years.
The measure was approved after a long parliamentary session, with 40 votes in favor and 13 against.
As the draft law suffered alterations in regard to what the Senate approved on July 15, it will have to return to the latter to “accept or reject” the modifications, though it is expected to pass.
Last year Uruguay approved the civil union of homosexuals, entitling them to rights similar to those of marriage.
In his note entitled “It is Grave to Accept the Adoption of Children by Homosexual Couples,” Archbishop Nicolas Cotugno reminded that this issue “is not a subject of religion, of philosophy or of sociology. It is something that refers essentially to respect of human nature itself.”
“To accept the adoption of children by homosexual couples is to go against human nature itself,” he added, “and, consequently, it is to go against the fundamental rights of the human being in so far as person.”
