Argentine Bishop Hector Aguer has
called on John Paul II to intercede with God to ask him to forgive
lawmakers who approved gay marriage last year.
Argentina became the first Latin
American country to legalize gay marriage after President Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner signed the law on July 21. Lawmakers approved
the law over the strong objections of the Roman Catholic church; one
cardinal called the movement to legalize such unions the devil's
handiwork.
Aguer, the Archbishop of La Plata and
chancellor of the Universidad Catolica de La Plata (Catholic
University at La Plata), on Saturday reflected on the life of John
Paul II on the occasion of his beatification during his weekly
televised program Claves Para Un Mundo Mejor (Keys To A
Better World).
“I've seen that the official
representative of Argentina is quite large. It is composed of a
significant number of legislators,” Aguer said. “With complete
respect, I offer the following suggestion: some of them could benefit
from this exceptional circumstance to ask for the intercession of the
new blessed so that the Lord may forgive them for approving last year
an unjust law contrary to the teachings of the Grand Pontiff, the law
that changed the nature of marriage in Argentina.” (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)