Pope Gets Preachy About Gays, Abortion in Spain

Posted on Nov 8, 2010

AP / Osservatore Romano, HO

Pope Benedict XVI walks with his pastoral staff outside the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday.

While in Barcelona, Spain, to dedicate Antoni Gaudi’s famous, yet unfinished Sagrada Familia basilica, Pope Benedict XVI got down to some unfinished business of his own, zeroing in on a short list of favorite family values issues he sees as causes for concern in a country that once seemed far more set on getting with the Catholic program than it does in this more secular era.  —KA

AP via Yahoo News:

Benedict has focused much of his pontificate on trying to fight secular trends in the West such as the legal recognition of same-sex unions. He has visited Spain twice and has a third trip planned next year, an indication he sees this once staunchly Roman Catholic country as a battleground for the future of the faithful in Europe.

During his homily Sunday, Benedict noted that the church of the Sagrada Familia — a soaring, Art Nouveau basilica with sandcastle-like spires — was initially conceived of as a temple to the sacred family of its name, Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

He railed against same-sex marriage and divorce, saying families are built on the “indissoluble love of a man and a woman” who should be provided with financial and social benefits from governments. He criticized policies allowing for abortions, saying “the life of children (must) be defended as sacred and inviolable from the moment of their conception.”

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