Lisbon, Portugal, Nov 13, 2008 / 04:46 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Jorge Ferreira da Costa Ortiga of Braga and president of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference denounced this week “all inclinations and attitudes that threaten to undermine the reality of the family,” including so-called “marriage” between “persons of the same sex.”

During the opening of the bishops’ Plenary Assembly, Archbishop Ferreira also said, “Recognition of indissoluble monogamous marriage between a man and a woman, the only authentic form of the family, must never be weakened.”

He said it was sad to witness the problems that are experienced in the homes of this “supposedly advanced society” and the “cases of poverty and hunger that are right here at our side.” The archbishop also criticized the law on divorce recently approved by Congress saying, “The family is the fundamental cell of each and every balanced society.”

The archbishop questioned the approval of laws that only “fracture” Portuguese society and said voters must respond to the new political initiatives.

He concluded his remarks by calling for unity in resolving the problems caused by the global financial crisis.  At the same time, he added, “We cannot ignore and neglect the great difficulties in which many families find themselves.”

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