Respect for the choices of
others is "fundamental" even if the Church clearly cannot always
adopt the same position, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro
Parolin said on Thursday.He made the comments in response to questions from journalists concerning the recent assisted suicide of DJ Fabo in Switzerland and recognition by a court in Trento that both members of a gay couple can be considered the fathers of children born abroad via a surrogate mother.
"Our loyalty is to the Gospel", since if the Church "says 'no' it is because it has a bigger 'yes'. It is not exclusively negative, but for something more, greater fullness of life and joy," Parolin explained.
The secretary of state also explained Wednesday's resignation by Marie Collins, an Irish woman who was a victim of repeated sexual abuse by a priest when she was a girl, from an international commission on protecting children set up by Pope Francis, partly as an attempt to "shake things up".