Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Brussels (Fides Service) - “To speak of the family is to speak of life, handing on of values, stability, future” said Lola Velarde vice president of the Euroepan network of the Institute for Family Policy (IPF) which she represented at the September 10 pro-family demonstration in Brussels, Belgium. Belgian families took to the streest to oppose a proposed bill being debated in the Belgian parliament to allow children to be adopted by same sex couples. “To build a society of freedom - said Ms Velarde - it is necessry to legislate not only in terms of individuals but from the prospect of the family. This was expressed by European society which took to the streets again, this time in Brussels, because it is a question of the future of the family and the family is the future of Europe. Different cultures, faiths and political tendencies united to defend a common value: the family. The impression was very positive. The numbers were not those reached in Madrid on June 18 because the sitaution in Belgium is different, but it was a significant event”.
The event was convoked by the Family Action Committee which collected over 14,000 signatures against the proposed bill. The organsiers said again that the protest was not against homosexual people as such, but against giving them permission to adopt a child because the right of every child is to have a mother and a father.
While the protest was happening in Brussels in solidarity with it families in various cities in Spain, Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Malaga, Majorca and Tenerife, Spanish, French and Belgian citizens were in the streets in front of Beligan embassies and consulates. Benigno Blanco, Vice president of the Spanish Family Forum said in adoption “priority must be given to the child’s right to have a mother and a father” and that “problems faced by families are common and therefore we will be ever more united. We will see family associations support initiatives of Spanish families and Spanish families showing solidarity with families in other countries. Family movements are ever more international".
A statement issued by the pro-family demonstration in Brussels said “when a country approves a law which fails to respect minor’s rights families all over the world have reason to be concerned”. It called on the Belgian government “not to pass the Bill because children have the right to a mother and a father and we cannot use children for social experiments”. Adoption must be for the good of the child and give him back what he has lost a mother and father. It underlined that children’s wellbeing must come before desires of adults. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 12/9/2005 righe 35 parole 505)
