Pope Begins New Year With New Assault On Gays

Published: Tuesday, December 1st, 2008.

Pope Benedict XVI in his first public address of 2008 to the faithful called same-sex marriage a threat to world peace.

The leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics called for support of traditional families made up of a union between a man and a woman and he condemned what he called attempts to undermine the traditional family unit.

"I wanted to shed light on the direct relationship that exists between the family and peace in the world," the Pope said.

"The family is the primary agent of peace and the negation or even the restriction of rights of the family ... threatens the very foundations of peace."

It was his second attack on same-sex couples in three days.

On Sunday addressing a crowd in St Peter's Square from his apartment window at the Vatican, he said that support for anything less than the traditional family unit was disrupting society.

His remarks, in both Italian and Spanish, were carried by satellite and telecast to a rally in a public square in Madrid where thousands of Catholics were protesting against Spain's two year old gay marriage law.

In Spanish the Pope said that the family is "based on the unbreakable union of man and woman and represents the privileged environment where human life is welcomed and protected from the beginning to its natural end."

The remarks were greeted with a massive cheer.

"It is worthwhile to work for the family and marriage because it is worthwhile to work for the human being, the most precious being created by God," he said.

Spain legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, Italy has been mulling civil partnership legislation.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prime Minister supports civil partnerships, but legislation has bogged down in Parliament where the right-of-center opposition has vowed to defeat it.

Sourced by Frank Boampong