Argentine Roman Catholic Cardinal Jorge
Bergoglio felt trapped by the gay marriage debate.
Bergoglio drew international headlines
when Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner blasted the
church for calling the movement to legalize gay marriage the devil's
handiwork.
Fernandez said such references were
unproductive and a throw back to the Inquisition.
The gay marriage law, singed
by Fernandez on Wednesday, makes Argentina the first Latin
American country to legalize gay marriage. The first
gay wedding is expected to take place in Mendoza on July 31.
Writing in a letter that called on
followers to join an anti-gay marriage rally in the capital before
lawmakers approved the legislation, Bergoglio said the bill was “a
move by the Father of Lies which aims to confuse and deceive the
children of God.”
“Let's not be naïve, we're not
talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive
pretension against the plan of God.”
He went on to say that the adoption of
children by married gay couples – made legal by the bill – is
discriminatory to children: “At stake are the lives of many
children who'll be discriminated against in being deprived of the
human growth that God wanted to be given through a father and a
mother.”
People familiar with the cardinal say
he felt trapped by the gay marriage debate, Argentine
glossy Noticias reported.
“He has nothing against homosexuals
or transvestites and has never discriminated against them in his
pastoral duties,” said a confidant.
They say Bergoglio became trapped
between the government and its rival Hector Aguer, the conservative
archbishop of La Plata, and reacted as a “soldier of God.”
After taking a very public stand on the
issue, Bergoglio has retreated into silence.