The Vatican today condemned gay marriages as "deviant" in a document that instructs clergy and Catholic politicians on how to stop the legislative momentum in favor of gay marriages in North America and Europe.
In a 12-page set of guidelines, issued with the approval of Pope John Paul II, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith urged Catholic lawmakers to lobby and vote against bills that would recognize gay marriage, saying they have a "moral duty" to do so.
The congregation, which was formed in the sixteenth century to defend the church against heresy, defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman and said that "homosexual acts go against the natural moral law."
The document continued, "Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behavior . . . but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity."
The Vatican's pronouncements came a day after President Bush weighed in on the highly charged subject, saying he remained firmly opposed to gay marriages and that administration lawyers were working to ensure that the term "marriage" would cover only unions between men and women.
In June, an Ontario appeals court opened the way for Canada to end the ban on marriage between partners of the same sex.
It was the second time this year that the Vatican instructed Catholic lawmakers to vote against bills legalizing gay marriage. In January, the Vatican issued guidelines for Roman Catholic politicians that underlined the church's opposition to same-sex marriage as well as abortion and euthanasia, and told Catholics not to promote laws that favor those practices.
It is not unusual for the Catholic church to issue guidelines to Catholic politicians on public policy. Officials from the Vatican and the United States Conference of Bishops have frequently advised politicians to take "pro-life" positions on issues such as birth control and abortion. In a sense, the church sees itself as a prophetic voice for society.
In the United States, the Bishops' group meets twice a year, and much of its business involves dispensing advice on a range of social issues that includes immigration, poverty, the economy and even agriculture. Last September, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter to President Bush expressing reservations about a potential war with Iraq, warning that it could have "unpredictable consequences" for civilians and for stability in Iraq and the Mideast.
At its convention in Minneapolis this week and next, Episcopalian Church USA will consider whether to approve an openly gay bishop, as well as whether to bless same-sex unions.
Though gay marriage is not permitted in the United States, Vermont allows gay civil unions, which give same-sex couples the rights and responsibilities of opposite-sex marriages. The highest court in Massachusetts is set to rule on the issue soon.
In Europe, several European nations, including Germany, France, Sweden and Denmark, also permit civil unions.
Last month, the United States Supreme Court struck down state sodomy laws that made it a crime for gays to have consensual sex.
In today's document, the Vatican congregation mandated that it is the "moral duty" of Catholic politicians to publicly oppose laws granting recognition to gay unions and to vote against legislative proposals.
"To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral," the document says.
The Vatican also urges non-Catholics to follow the lead of Catholics in this matter.
Gay rights activists were quick to strike back at the Vatican.
"It's deeply troubling that a spiritual leader would herd his flock in the opposite direction of understanding," said David Tseng, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a gay-rights organization based in Washington, D.C. "Instead of promoting stable relationships that help build communities that strengthen moral values, he would divide families."
Mr. Tseng said he believed that the Pope was "clearly" reacting to the growing legislative movement toward gay marriages.
"If the Vatican felt confident that the world was going to remain in the Middle Ages, to toe the line on the traditional confines of marriage, there would be no need for this pronouncement," he said. "Clearly, he's looking at what's happening around the globe and seeing that the tide is running against him."
Charles Kaiser, an author and gay activist, asserted that history would prove the shortsightedness of the Vatican's declaration.
"Years from now people will look back at this proclamation and will see it as being no more sensible than the Inquisition," said Mr. Kaiser, the author of "The Gay Metropolis," a history of gay life in modern America.
The Vatican document also strongly opposes adoption by gay couples, saying children raised by same-sex partners face developmental "obstacles" because they are deprived of having either a mother or a father.
"Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development," the document said.