The Roman Catholic Church in France is
calling on members to show their opposition to a planned marriage
reform.
The Socialist government of President
Francois Hollande is expected on Wednesday to introduce a bill which
would legalize gay marriage.
At the church's annual plenary held in the town
of Lourdes on Saturday, Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois called on
Catholics to oppose the measure, Reuters reported.
“The presidential and legislative
elections did not give them carte blanche, especially not for reforms
that very profoundly affect the equilibrium of our society,” said
Vingt-Trois.
“It will not be 'marriage for all,'
it will be the marriage of a few imposed on all,” he added, calling
the proposed reform “a fraud.”
Government officials have said they
expect to pass the reform by mid-2013.
In August, gay rights advocates chided
Vingt-Trois for criticizing the plan in its “Prayer for France,”
which was read in Catholic churches across the country to mark the
feast of the Assumption. Churchgoers were asked to pray for “newly
elected officials” to put their “sense of common good over
pressure to meet special demands” and that “children cease to be
objects of the desires and conflicts of adults and fully benefit from
the love of a father and a mother.”
Plans to make France the 12th
country to legalize gay nuptials were set in motion in June when
Socialists won control of both houses of Parliament, just weeks after
Hollande, who campaigned on the issue, was elected to lead the
nation.