EUROPE/SPAIN - Bishops of Spain support 18 June pro-family demonstration: Spain faces a matter of the utmost moral and social importance to which citizens must respond with clarity and decision

Madrid (Fides Service) - The Spanish Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CEE) has given full support to the demonstration organised by the Spanish Family Forum (FEF) June 18, to protest against the proposed amendment to the law to equal same sex unions to marriage (see Fides 1 June 2005).
In a statement Family is Important, issued on June 9, the Bishops say the demonstration is for a just cause because Spain is faced with a matter of the utmost moral and social importance to which citizens, Catholics in particular, must respond with clarity and decision with every legal means.
The Bishops recall that the CEE has already expressed a negative opinion with regard to the proposed law which would disintegrate matrimony in Spanish law because this institution which is vital and irreplaceable for individuals and for society would no longer be the union of man and wife. Individual Bishops in their respective dioceses are offering clear explanation of Catholic teaching on this important matter.
The Bishops laud society for showing disapproval of this law which is unjust and contrary to reason and support for the family and children in different ways and with many initiatives. Recalling the 18 June demonstration and encouraging people to take part, the bishops say this is as a way to respond to the challenge and use the democratic right to protest by means of a peaceful demonstration, a way to fulfil a citizen’s duty to serve the common good. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 13/6/2005, righe 21, parole 272)