Pope challenges Portuguese on abortion, gay ‘marriage’

Pope challenges Portuguese on abortion, gay ‘marriage’

FATIMA, Portugal — Pope Benedict XVI on May 13 singled out abortion, divorce and same-sex “marriage” as “some of today’s most insidious and dangerous threats to the common good.”

The pope made his remarks in an address to social workers at the Portuguese shrine of Fatima, on the third day of a four-day visit to Portugal. Portugal’s parliament voted in February to give same-sex couples many of the rights of marriage, a policy that Benedict has in the past called “gravely unjust” and the “legalization of evil.” Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva, a practicing Catholic, has yet to sign the bill into law.

Speaking to Portuguese bishops later May 13, the pope specifically criticized “politicians, intellectuals, (and) communications professionals” who promote “disdain” for religion, and called upon Christians in those fields to bear witness to their faith. (TAB)