A day after Maltese lawmakers approved
a bill that extends marriage to gay and lesbian couples, the Catholic
Church has reiterated its opposition to same-sex marriage.
(Related: Maltese
parliament votes to legalize same-sex marriage.)
Charles Scicluna, the archbishop of
Malta, on Thursday tweeted that carobs are not oranges.
“'Good morning, Carob,' said the
Orange Tree,” the archbishop tweeted. “'Did not the Law say that
we are equal? I see that you are still a Carob and I an Orange
Tree.'”
While Roman Catholicism is the official
state religion of Malta and 88.6% of its citizens identify as
Catholic, a majority of Maltese (65% in 2015) support same-sex
marriage, despite the church's opposition.
In a statement, the Curia reiterated
its opposition.
“This has always been the model of
marriage of humanity itself and not merely a Christian vision,” it
said. “By introducing the concept of same-sex marriage, the law is
doing away with the differences and natural reciprocity between men
and women, as well as with the anthropological basis of a family.”
“Instead of accepting diversity, we
have now imposed uniformity on the way relationships are expressed.”
Prior to Wednesday's vote, Scicluna had
expressed opposition to changing the law.
“They have brought us Christians to a
point where we have to declare we disagree with the law of the
state,”Scicluna said. “We have nothing against gay. They are
human beings who have every right to expect us to respect and love
them. However, we do not need to change the way in which God created
marriage so that we would be able to say that two men or two women
can get married.”
(Related: Rick
Santorum opposes gay marriage because trees are not cars.)