Some 180 diplomats gathered at the Vatican to hear Pope Benedict XVI declare that the education of children needed proper "settings" and that "pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman."
"This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself," he said.
The Vatican under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI has waged an aggressive war against Gay Marriage. Country after country in Western Europe is embracing the notion of marriage equality and this is why he is hitting the panic button.
In the United States we have recently seen the elevation of two Archbishops to level of Cardinal not based on their pastoral abilities, but rather for their aggressive public opposition to Gay Marriage.
Cardinal elects Archbishop Dolan Archbishop of New York, and Archbishop O'Brien of Baltimore both men are known for their open opposition to marriage equality. Dolan's notorious and seriously flawed leadership against Gay marriage in New York is credited for the Gay Marriage finally being passed.
While Archbishop O'Brien is trying to have a face-off with Maryland's O'Malley, who is Catholic, and has come under criticism from O'Brien for his stand on the pending introduction of Gay Marriage legislation in Maryland, the Governor is standing his ground.
"I write to urge you to refrain from using the power of your office to promote the redefinition of marriage in Maryland," O'Brien wrote to O'Malley. This reminds us of the standoff between Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois, and Govern Mario Cuomo of New York also Catholics, who stood on the side of marriage equality, and dismissed both the bishops and their supposedly moral leadership.
Meantime in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Archbishop Nienstedt is telling his priest when it comes to the Minnesota Catholic church's campaign to pass a constitutional marriage discrimination amendment, they had two choices: help out or shut up:
Most recently massive public opinion turned against Cardinal Francis George of Chicago for referring to the gay liberation movement as morphing into the KKK. The Cardinal was forced to apologize for those remarks. He also just recently lost his statewide effort to promote discrimination by opposing Civil Unions and Gay adoption. He was further enraged by the fact that Catholic Charities adoption agencies had to abide by the Civil Unions law or they would be denied public tax payer funding. To our Catholic Shame the Illinois Catholic Conference did not have the adoptive child as their first priority, so they closed down their adoption agencies.
This Papal coordinated war appears to be losing ground globally not because the pro marriage equality forces are outsmarting the Bishops at every turn, but rather because they have reason and common sense on their side. This is a War the Papacy is bound to lose.