Posted on 01/14/2006 2:26:31 PM PST by NYer
Tens of thousands of Italians protested on Saturday demanding legal recognition for gay unions and the right to abortion, two days after Pope Benedict condemned homosexual marriage and the use of the abortion pill.
Clutching banners reading "We will no longer be silenced," the demonstrators, many women and gay couples, crammed into squares in Rome and financial capital Milan.
"We thought the church had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics ... but instead there is a terrible resurgence. These are ugly signs for freedom of expression," Nobel literature laureate Dario Fo, a social campaigner, told reporters at the Milan protest.
Police said 50,000 people were gathered in the northern city's Piazza del Duomo overlooked by its giant Gothic cathedral. Organizers put the number at 100,000.
At the Rome demonstration, gay couples and a man in a strapless white wedding dress posed with Pope Benedict's picture.
Italy goes to the polls on April 9 and the Church's position on a host of issues could play a significant role in the result.
Gay unions are already legal in several European countries, including traditionally Catholic Spain. In Italy, the Vatican and many politicians are fighting the mere suggestion.
Pope Benedict in an address on Thursday said the defense of traditional marriage was "not a peculiarity of the Catholic moral teaching but part of an elementary truth regarding our common humanity."
He said it would be "a grave mistake" to legally recognize "other forms of unions."
Ministers from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition on Saturday ratcheted up the Vatican's condemnation.
"These protests have absolutely sickened me," Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, a member of the populist, right-wing Northern League party said.
"These filthy things have made absurd claims for privileges on the basis of unproductive sex .... These are out of place and revolting."
Culture Minister Rocco Buttiglione said Italy's responsibility was to protect young heterosexual couples to allow them to have children, not to look after gay couples.
"Without children, Italy will die," Buttiglione said.
The election will pit former European Commission President Romano Prodi's center-left group, "The Union," against Berlusconi's ruling center-right.
Italy's Catholic Church has already served notice to the center-left that it will fight any move to recognize civil partnership for unwed heterosexual couples and gay couples.
Prodi has promised some form of recognition for unmarried couples but has stopped short of supporting gay marriage. His refusal to take part in Saturday's protests has caused a rift with some of the smaller left-wing coalition parties.
A gay couple embrace during a gay march through Rome Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006, to push for legal recognition for homosexual couples.The Vatican and ministers in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government were scathing in denouncing the rally. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
When I was in Rome, I saw many Friends of Dorothy. Many of the (wealthy or bohemian) Italian emigres in Manhattan hit for the other team as well.
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Why even bother mentioning anything from this power house of a nation.
All the right people oppose the Holy Father.
It's encouraging.
Haha! Can you imagine how the American media would attempt to torch that guy to death? Good for him. Way to call it like it is.
But really, what, with that first picture posted, this could have used a barf alert. I didn't need to see that.
>>"Talketh to the hand, freakazoids!" sayeth Pope Benny.<<
Thou dost owe me a keyboard, Nave.
Would you mind removing that picture, it is quite unsettling.
My worketh is done. ; )
If it's not dead already. I read somewhere that they have the lowest birth rate in Europe.
Just thought I'd do my part to help the MSM with its objectivity problem.
This one as well could be done away with.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
In a nutshell. If Italy doesn't change it's ways soon, it will die. And the Muslims who take over will kill off any remaining perverts.
Ugh. At least put a barf alert for goodness sake!
We thought HOMSEXUALS had withdrawn from interfering in Italian politics ... but instead there is a terrible resurgence
Maybe Iran would take in these homosexuals?
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