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New Pope Draws Line in Spain Jim Meyers, NewsMax.comIn a sign that new Pope Benedict XVI is playing hardball with growing secularism in Europe, the Vatican has come out strong against a same-sex marriage bill in Spain. Just one day after Spain's lower house of parliament approved the bill, which would also allow gay couples to adopt children, a senior Vatican cardinal went so far as to tell Spain's civil servants to refuse to marry same-sex couples – even if means losing their job. Story Continues Below "A law as deeply inequitable as this one is not an obligation," said Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo of Colombia, head of the Pontifical Council on the Family, who also called on civil servants not to process paperwork that would allow same-sex couples to adopt children. "One cannot say that a law is right simply because it is a law." The Bishop of Castellon, Juan Antonio Reig Pla, called for "civil disobedience," saying that "one has to obey God before man." Observers say the Vatican's action signals a toughening stance against creeping secularism, which Pope Benedict has called one of the greatest evils facing Europe. When he was a cardinal, his Vatican office told Catholic officials in 2003 that they shouldn't support laws that contradict moral teachings on issues like abortion, and later stated that it is "gravely immoral" not to oppose legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Spain was long considered a Catholic bastion and is the birthplace of the conservative Opus Dei order. The nation jailed homosexuals until 1975, outlawed contraceptives until 1978 and banned divorce until 1981. But Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is now promoting a secular agenda, attempting to broaden abortion rights and simplifying divorce procedures. Spain's government has cautioned public employees to abide by the same-sex marriage law. A senior official insisted that civil servants "must apply the laws that government proposes and parliament approves." But Bishop Reig Pla said: "If obeying the law comes before conscience, this leads to Auschwitz."
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