Pope says cohabitation, gay unions cannot be equated with marriage

Published: 2004-09-13

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) -- Any attempt to equate cohabitation or gay unions with the marriage of a man and a woman violates God's plan for humanity, Pope John Paul II said. The pope encouraged the bishops of New Zealand to continue speaking forcefully against a law, introduced for parliamentary debate in June, which would grant cohabitating homosexual and heterosexual couples many of the same rights enjoyed by married couples. Pope John Paul met individually with the bishops of the six New Zealand dioceses and with the group as a whole Sept. 13 at his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. The bishops were making their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican, required every five years to report on the status of their dioceses. Pope John Paul said the bishops' reports indicate that like many other nations New Zealand is "suffering the effects of an unrestrained secularism."

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