Roman Catholic Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general emeritus of the Diocese of Rome, has described gay marriage as an “illusion.”

Reacting to last week's Supreme Court ruling which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Ruini said that such unions go against nature.

“We are fooling ourselves if we think we can banish nature with a personal or collective decision of our own,” Ruini told Italian daily Il Foglio.

The basis for gay nuptials, according to Ruini, is the view that sex is a choice.

“But this is an illusion, even if it is shared by many,” he said. “Our freedom, in fact, is rooted in the reality of our being, and when it is violated it becomes destructive, of ourselves first of all.”

The church, he said, “cannot help” but uphold the reality of the nature of man.