Colombian bishops stress protection of adopted children

Feb 28, 2011 / 12:04 pm

The Bishops’ Conference of Colombia is calling on the country’s Constitutional Court to reject arguments in favor of the adoption of children by same-sex couples.

The bishops stressed that the rights of children should be placed above “the affective and emotional needs of same-sex couples.”

The bishops’ call came after the Constitutional Court announced Feb. 23 that it would hear arguments on whether to grant custody of a young girl to her mother and her lesbian partner. The child was conceived through artificial insemination.

The Constitutional Court will issue a final ruling on the case after two lower courts ruled that the adoption should take place.

The secretary general and spokesman of the bishops’ conference, Bishop Juan Vicente Cordoba spoke with CNA on Feb. 25, noting that adoption is a “juridical mechanism” the state of Colombia employs to place a child in a two-parent home made up of a mother and father.

This is meant to “replace what was lost, namely, the child’s biological mother and father, and the child is given a substitute mother and father so he can have a new home,” the bishop said.

Such a process is founded upon “natural law” and is “anthropological,” he explained. “It has nothing to do with faith.”

Bishop Cordoba noted that a poll was carried out recently showing that “82 percent of Colombians do not support the adoption of children by same-sex couples.”

“We told the court not to rule based on the ideas of five or six of its members, but rather on those of 45 million Colombians, of whom 82 percent do not want gay adoption,” he said.

“Five people cannot decide for 45 million,” the bishop explained, adding that the bishops have asked the court “to take into account the will of the Colombian people in its ruling.”

Bishop Cordoba, noting the psychological aspect of the issue, pointed out that children raised by same-sex parents “face great difficulties.” 

“Some may grow up to be healthy but many grow up to become homosexuals, bisexuals or they will have identity problems that will affect their ability to sustain a relationship.”

Bishop Cordoba also rejected the statements by some that a child adopted by a same-sex couple would be denied the sacrament of Baptism. “The Church is universal and welcomes everyone,” he said. “The child is not at fault, and if they bring him to the Church to be baptized, the Church will baptize him. 

“He will be joyfully accepted in the Catholic Church,” the bishop concluded.