NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      FLORENCE, Italy (CWNews.com) - Cardinal Silvano Piovanelli of Florence on Friday criticized a decision by Florence's city council to allow homosexuals and lesbians to register their relationships as common law marriages.

      Cardinal Piovanelli wrote in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the new rule "is against the teachings of the Church," and don't "correspond to our society's or to traditional Christianity's concept of family." Pisa was the first Italian city to make the allowance on July 9 and was followed by Voghera.

      While the marriage is only symbolic and offers no legal recognition, opponents and supporters see the changes as one step on a slippery slope. "The registry -- to my way of seeing -- doesn't alleviate the suffering and the possible marginalization of those who might be, and often are, the victims of homosexuality," the cardinal wrote.