The Archbishop of Westminster has said the closure of Catholic
adoption services has been a loss to children and is a new form of
discrimination.Archbishop Vincent Nichols said equality legislation that came into effect in 2007 - which would have forced Catholic agencies to permit adoption by gay couples - constituted the "imposition of one form of discrimination in the name of removing another".
Following the change in law almost all of the 13 Catholic children's agencies were forced to either halt their adoption activity or remove "Catholic" from their name.
In his homily at a Mass to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the adoption agency, Leeds Catholic Care, in Leeds Cathedral on Saturday, Archbishop Nichols said the "net effect of that process has been a loss to children in this country."
He added: "Limitations on the exercise of religious freedom in the public sphere, such as this, penalise society as a whole by inhibiting or preventing the public contribution of religious organisations to the service of society."