Pope Benedict XVI in an address to Catholic charity and social workers in Fatima on Thursday, said he 'deeply appreciated' initiatives aimed at defending what he said were 'essential and primary values of life'.
Among these values, he said, was 'the family, founded on indissoluble marriage between a man and a woman'. Abortion and threats to heterosexual marriage were he said 'among some of the most insidious and dangerous challenges facing the common good today'.
Pope Benedict's statement during his trip to Portugal was particularly poignant in view of the decision by the Portuguese parliament last January to legalise same-sex marriage.
It is to be hoped that his words will also be taken to heart by the Irish Government which is currently debating a bill to legalise civil partnerships
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