Rome, Italy, Feb 16, 2011 / 14:08 pm
The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, recently affirmed that adoption policies should prioritize “the good of the child, who needs both a father and a mother.”
Cardinal Antonelli’s comments came in response to a petition filed by the Supreme Court of Appeals in Italy requesting that Congress pass a law allowing the adoption of minors by single adults.
According to Italian law, only married couples can adopt children.
The Court of Appeals made the petition after a woman from Genoa requested the court legitimize her adoption of a Belarusian girl. The girl lived with the woman for two years in Russia and then in the United States, where the adoption was declared valid.