Visiting Vatican Official in Mexico Decries Capital’s Marriage Law

September 09, 2010

Mexico City legalized gay marriage several months ago, but a Vatican official in town criticized the law in a conference and espoused heterosexual marriage as the norm.

Vatican City

"A gay relationship is like decaffeinated coffee, you do not wake up," said Father Gonzalo Miranda, who is also a professor at the pontifical Regina Apostolorum University.

"What just happened in California is very significant", said Miranda at a press conference in the capital, referring to the recent overturning of Proposition 8 in California. Miranda and other Vatican officials are in Mexico City for a slew of academic conferences.

"On two occasions” he added “people spoke out against the legal recognition of gay marriage and twice a judge changed the popular vote with a ruling. In Mexico, I don't know the mechanism used, but the people were not consulted [and] there wasn't a referendum either."
 

Mexico City became the first jurisdiction in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage. The law was challenged by conservatives in the country but the Supreme Court ruled that the new law (which also allows gay couples to adopt) was constitutional and that other Mexican states must recognize gay marriages performed in the capital.
 

Vatican officials said the gay parents could not substitute heterosexual couples and that the new law was "a grave injustice that cannot be described".

In July, Argentina became the first Latin American country – and only the tenth in the world - to legalize gay marriage.