Lisbon, Portugal, Feb 24, 2009 / 21:33 pm
The Bishops’ Conference of Portugal has reaffirmed its rejection of the government’s attempts to make homosexual unions equal to traditional marriage after Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa promised he would support gay unions if re-elected.
In a statement issued during the meeting at Fatima, the bishops’ executive committee said the family, founded upon marriage between a man and woman, merits unique and exclusive recognition and should not be confused with other types of unions.
The bishops explained that any law that allows homosexual unions and gives them the right to adopt children "would constitute a grave change to the anthropological basis of the family and of all society, endangering its balance."
After pointing out the "complementarity of the sexes," the bishops warned that "alternative models" of marriage and the family "would represent a source of confusion for teens and young people."