Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of Italian bishops' conference CEI, on Tuesday reiterated the Catholic church's opposition to a bill in parliament regulating gay unions.
He also said a controversial measure that has been stripped from the bill - the stepchild adoption provision that would have enabled gays to adopt their partner's children - must not be allowed to return through the back door.
"The adoptions provision has been torn up and we all hope that it does not come back in another way because it would be hypocrisy," Bagnasco told a press conference. Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday that the civil-unions bill will be voted on in parliament between May 10 and 12, adding that the government will probably make it a confidence vote.
"Individual rights are already guaranteed," said Bagnasco.
"Putting other unions on the same level as marriage weakens the family. A family is formed by marriage between a man and a woman and it is the foundation of civil society".
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