On February 14, 2010, Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, Italy, issued a doctrinal note on the same-sex union issue or, as it is often called, same-sex ‘marriage’ issue. In explaining same-sex unions to ordinary faithful as contrary to the common good, the Cardinal specifically addressed his note also to politicians who are believing, i.e., practising, Catholics.

            “The state must not be neutral regarding marriage and homosexual unions, since it cannot be neutral regarding the common good: Society owes its survival not to homosexual unions, but to the family based on marriage,” he wrote.

            “Equating the two, the Cardinal continued; “has consequences I’m not afraid to call devastating, at first in the legal system and then in the ethos of our people. If homosexual unions [are] treated as equivalent to marriage, marriage [will] be downgraded to simply one of the possible ways to become spouses, signaling that the state is indifferent to whether one makes one choice rather than the other.

             “In other words, equating the two would mean that the connection of sexuality to procreation and the raising of children is a fact of no interest to the state since it has no relevance to the common good. And with that, one of the pillars of our legal system would collapse: marriage as a public benefit — a pillar not only already recognized by our Constitution, but also by previous legal enactments…

             “Not to attribute the legal status of marriage to living arrangements that are not and cannot be marital is not discrimination but simply recognizing things for what they are. Justice is the supremacy of truth in interpersonal relationships…

            As for the state, “marriage has a relevance that is different than homosexual unions. Married couples ensure the succession of the generations and are therefore eminently in the public interest. Civil law must therefore afford them the institutional recognition suited to their task. Since they do not carry out such a role for the common good, homosexual couples do not require equal recognition…

             “In addition to the obligation of everyone to promote and defend the common good, the believer also has the grave duty of full coherence between what he believes and what he thinks and puts forward regarding the common good. It is impossible to have cohabiting in one’s conscience both the Catholic faith and support for the equivalence between homosexual unions and marriage — the two contradict each other.

             “Obviously, the most serious responsibility is of those who propose to introduce into our legal system that equivalency, or vote in Parliament in favour of such a law. Such an act is publicly and gravely immoral.

             “It is impossible for anyone to consider themselves Catholic if in one way or another they recognize the right to marriage between persons of the same sex…” (Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register, March 14-17, 2010)

Cardinal Caffarra is a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Academy for Life, and the Apostolic Signatura.