EspañolIn a recent editorial printed Sunday, July 31 in its newspaper Desde la Fe, the Archdiocese again rejected Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s initiative to legalize gay marriage and gay couples’ right to adopt.

Because homosexuality is a “deviation,” the Catholic Church considers homosexual intercourse to be “a grave sin” and thus called on all homosexuals to live “in continence and chastity,” according to the Archdiocese of Mexico.

The article, titled “Why Is the Church Opposed to the President’s Initiative to Promote Gay Marriage?”, based its rejection on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which literally states that homosexual relations are not approved of.

The editorial also stated the apostle Paul, one of the founders of the Church, rejected homosexual practices because they are “against nature” and are an “infamy of man with man.”

Paul also “condemned to hell” all who practiced these acts against nature, stating “nor the effeminate, nor the homosexuals … will inherit the kingdom of God.”

“Anglophones call the heterosexuals ‘straight,’ a term accepted by homosexuals themselves, which implies that homosexuality is a deviation,” the editorial argued.

“Every human being has deviations,” it continued. “For example, toward anger, resentment, greed, gluttony, lust … what you need is help to correct it, not to be driven to fall into it.”

Desde la fe emphasized that “the Church considers homosexual relationships a grave sin.”

“Many gay believers who marry end up turning away from God. Like Adam and Eve, knowing their sin, they hide from their Lord, endangering their salvation.”

The article pointed to Pope Francis, who declared he was not one to “criticize” homosexuals, but was also not approving of their practices. Instead, he invited them to “get closer to God and experience the joy and peace of molding their life to the divine will.”

“Whoever has a sexual deviance, the editorial said, “the Church wants to help you control it, not to surrender to it.” The Church welcomed gays “with respect, compassion and sensitivity.”

The mere fact that Peña Nieto wanted to legalize these unions does not mean they stop being sinful, the editorial argued. “That the government has made something legal does not make it moral.”

On May 17, President Nieto presented an initiative to amend the constitution and the Federal Civil Code to make gay marriage legal. Since then, the Archdiocese of Mexico, led by Cardinal Norberto Rivera, has been consistently rejecting this initiative within the weekly publication.

Director of Desde la Fe Hugo Valdemar said in an interview with Proceso that the editorials reflect the concern not only of the Archdiocese of Mexico, but of the Mexican Episcopal Conference. He said not since the time of Plutarco Elias Calles, who put into place anticlerical laws, has church and state clashed so intensely.

In the interview, Hugo Valdemar said Nieto “betrayed” the church, having given it “a terrible stab in the back” for promising Mexico’s Catholic hierarchy that the country would follow Pope Francis’ agenda regarding controversial policies.