Thursday, January 17, 2013

Cardinal Poupard: “Same-sex marriage is a wound in civilization”

Cardinal Paul Poupard“It is right to protest against same-sex marriage because it threatens the otherness, upon which society is based.”

Just as a massive demonstration took place in Paris against Hollande’s law, in the Curia, French cardinal Paul Poupard speaks out against same-sex marriage. 

The President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture talks to Vatican Insider about his reasons for opposing such unions and assures that “what is currently going on in France is not just Catholic revenge.”

 Is it Catholics protesting against same-sex marriage?
 
“It’s not just Catholics that are speaking out against the Mariage pour tous (Marriage for all) law. Many who are not part of the Catholic community are also taking part in the campaign. For example, the former family minister under Mitterand, Lionel Jospin’s wife and a number of other non believers and openly gay individuals. They share the same anthropological position as the Catholic world. 

This shows that as the Blessed John Henry Newman taught us, by defending the Catholic culture, the Church simply protects culture. It is not surprising the head of the French Catholic Church, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, the Chief Rabbi of Paris, Gilles Bernheim and the leader of the Islamic Council, Mohammed Moussaoui have joined forces to reject the bill.”

Why does the Church refer to it as a threat towards the family? 
 
“Those who proposed same-sex marriage spoke openly of a change in civilization. But it is strange because those who voted for Hollande in the last elections didn’t vote for a change of civilization. The real achievement of the campaign against this bill which is deeply wrong is that it has triggered a debate and has encouraged people to reflect on an issue that is crucial for society.”

 Does laicality prevail over the common good? 
 
“The value of the union between man and woman from which the concept of family derives, constituting the basis of society, is crushed. If the foundations of the family, which is the nucleus of society, are damaged, that means acting against the common good. As Benedict XVI recently stated, if until now we had seen the misunderstanding of the essence of human freedom s the cause of the family crisis, it is now clear that what is at stake is the vision of the being itself, of what it really mean to be human.”

What would you say to those who accuse French Catholicism of fighting traditionalist battles?
 
“We cannot bow down in the face of society’s destruction, caused by a new conception of sexuality that is sparking an anthropological revolution based on gender ideology. In this way, the Pope once clarified, humans deny their own nature and decide that not only is this nature a preconceived fact but they create it themselves. It is the Church’s task to defend non negotiable values so that these translate into political action.”