Jesuit magazine says church leaders obligated to comment on politics

Published: 2007-03-15

ROME (CNS) -- When the pope, cardinals or bishops publicly comment on issues being debated by legislators they are not interfering in politics, but exercising their obligation as pastors and their rights as citizens, said an influential Jesuit magazine. "When churchmen intervene in the public debate, they do so in ways and with instruments similar to those used by any other citizen," said La Civilta Cattolica (Catholic Civilization) in an editorial reviewed by the Vatican Secretariat of State before publication. The mid-March editorial used as its starting point the heated public debate in Italy over comments made by church leaders on proposed legislation recognizing unions formed by cohabiting couples, including homosexuals. Church leaders have been accused of trying to impose the church's moral teaching on the laws of the nation.

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