Pope Again Condemns Gay Marriage

V A T I C A N   C I T Y, Feb. 1 -- Stressing again the Vatican’s opposition togay marriage, Pope John Paul II today said there was nopossibility the church would redefine its view of matrimony.

“Marriage is not just any old union between human persons,susceptible to being configured according to a plurality ofcultural models,” the pope said in a speech to the Roman Rota, theVatican tribunal that can grant marriage annulments.

“When the church teaches that matrimony is a natural thing, itproposes a truth made plain by reason for the good of the couplesand of society,” said the pontiff.

In November, the Vatican blasted lawmakers for giving legalrecognition to so-called de facto unions — including thosebetween homosexuals — and said attempts to allow adoption by gayswere “a great danger.” That Vatican document reflecteddenunciations over the past several years by the pontiff.