Paris mayor slams Catholic bishop for gay incest jibe

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, one of France's few openly gay politicians, said Monday a Catholic Church leader had "flipped his lid" by saying that same-sex marriage would bring polygamy and incest.

The comments from Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, came as France's Socialist government prepares a bill legalising same-sex marriages and adoptions by homosexual couples, to be presented to cabinet on October 24.

"It is very shocking and even surprising coming from him, because he is someone I consider a wise man," Delanoe said. "I don't know what came over him, he flipped his lid a little bit and what he said was downright ugly."

Asked about the bill in an interview broadcast by RCF Christian radio on Friday, Barbarin said legalising same-sex marriage amounted to a "breakdown in society".

"This could have innumerable consequences. Afterward they will want to create couples with three or four members. And after that, perhaps one day the taboo of incest will fall," he said.

Delanoe said he was "obviously" ready to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies as mayor and had already received several requests to do so.