“Falsification of the truth” and “serious danger for married and family life and for the whole order of social life in Europe”: that’s the judgement expressed in recent days by the Executive Committee of the Spanish bishops on the Resolution of the European Parliament relating to homophobia (P6-TA (2006)0018). The Spanish bishops consider that the Resolution, “with the pretext of preventing discrimination against homosexual persons, indirectly promotes the idea that marriages between man and woman and unions between homosexual couples ought to be treated in the same way”. “The truth is falsified in this way”, say the bishops. “Though this resolution is not binding on member states, it may represent a moral pressure on them” to conform to it, they add. It “forgets the principle of subsidiarity which ought to be the norm in the correct functioning of the institutions of the European Union, and claims to impose on the citizens of the Union a conception of the truth about man that it contrary to the values and principles of our civilization”. Moreover, according to the Spanish bishops, “the proposal to use educational methods to counter homophobia brings with it the grave danger of inculcating this deformation of the truth in children and the young, thus having a negative impact on their consciences”. In the same way, “the Spanish Bishops’ Conference has pronounced its opposition to the grave legal provisions adopted in our country that presuppose a redefinition of marriage and empty this institution of its most elementary content”. The bishops say they join “with other Bishops’ Conferences and many people who have already protested against this Resolution that is injurious to the sound functioning of the European Union and contrary to the consciences of citizens”. At the same time, they “appeal to the European Parliament in future to avoid actions that jeopardise freedom of conscience in the European Union”.
