San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mar 28, 2007 / 06:25 am
More than 10,000 Catholics gather last weekend in front of the Capitol building in San Juan to demand the Puerto Rican Congress defend marriage between one man and one woman.
The protest was organized by the Bishops’ Conference of Puerto Rico and included the recitation of the rosary “for the truth, life, human dignity, marriage, and the family.”
Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez of San Juan participated in the protest and told reporters, “We are here to celebrate the truth, life, human dignity, marriage and the family as gifts of the Creator for the wellbeing of humanity and the unity of the human race.”
The Puerto Rican Congress is currently debating a reform of the Civil Code that would widen the definition of marriage to include unions between two persons who live together in a “voluntary, stable, public and continuous” relationship during a period of “no less than three years.”
It would also allow for legal recognition of sex changes and would make same-sex unions equivalent to marriage.
Father Fernando Felices, who graduated with a degree in law from the University of Harvard, told the EFE news agency, “This issue is about giving special treatment for a particular kind of behavior which, even though they are adults, society must decide whether or not to allow.”