Archbishop of Milan Angelo
Scola said on Thursday that Italy should avoid allowing
stepchild adoption by gay people because he said it risked
contributing to the "dissolution of society".
The cardinal's comments on the sidelines of a clergy
meeting came on the day that a controversial bill on civil
unions for same-sex couples was due to reach the Italian Senate.
Scola said that some rights needed to be given to gay
people, mainly of a personal, individual nature.
But he said Italy should avoid drawing up legislation that
retraces the institution of family and should also avoid
introducing stepchild adoption, namely the adoption by one
partner in a civil union of the other partner's biological
child.
He said this could lead to a massive increase in adoptions
through the practice of surrogate motherhood, which the Catholic
Church views as a sin.
"We run two risks: the dissolution of society and at the
same time bringing orphan children of living parents into the
world," he said.
He also defended Italians who had attended protests in
defence of the traditional family.
"To be scandalised because some citizens are protesting is
deeply wrong," he said.
"The family is the stable relationship between a man and a
woman that is open to life and that bears the burden of
education of children, generates life and looks after two
fundamental differences: the difference between the sexes and
the difference between generations," he said.
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