New Pope Old Thoughts

It didn't take long for the new pope, Benedict XVI, to show his colors. While he claimed he would try to unify and reach out to diverse groups, like John Paul II attempted, he condemned the Spanish parliament's Thursday vote in favor of gay marriage.

He knew this was pending and that the approval by the Senate and subsequent enactment are almost certain. The Spanish newspapers today run this as the second, third or fourth story. It's a yawner there, even in that heavily Roman Catholic country.

However Pope Benedict used the head of the Pontifical Council on the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, to denounce the vote. The Cardinal spoke to the Italian newspaper of record, Corriere della Sera.

A report in English is available from the Spanish daily Expatica here. You can get the flavor from the lead:

The new pope hit back at a new Spanish bill allowing homosexuals to marry and adopt children, saying Christians had a duty to oppose such 'iniquitous' legislation.

While the Netherlands and Belgium have also legalized same-sex marriage, only Spain so far also allows homosexual couples to adopt children.

Trujillo called for Spanish municipal officials (virtually all of them Catholic) to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages. He said that homosexuals "deserve all our love, our support and our aid." However, his points of practice conflict jarringly.

The municipal officials "should exercise the same conscientious objection asked of doctors and nurses against a crime such as abortion. This is not a matter of choice: all Christians... must be prepared to pay the highest price, including the loss of a job."

There's your reaching out, pardner.