Pope denounces shift toward gay ‘marriage’ in US

VATICAN CITY — On March 9 Pope Benedict XVI denounced the “powerful political and cultural currents” that are working to “alter the legal definition of marriage” in the United States.

The pope’s condemnation of same-sex “marriage” came in an address to a delegation of bishops from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, headed by Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Maryland legalized gay “marriage” March 1 and Minnesota will be one of five states to vote on the issue in the coming months. Minnesota’s bishops are campaigning for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex “marriage.” Benedict stressed that “sexual difference cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage,” and called on the church to continue its “reasoned defense of marriage.” (TAB)