“Entrusting children to so-called homosexual couples constitutes in the last analysis a moral abuse of children, the smallest and most defenseless,” said Bishop Athanasius Schneider in an interview with Italian media last week.

Mincing no words, the bishop said gay adoption “will go down in history as one of the greatest degradations of civilization. Those who daily combat this gross injustice are the true friends of children and the heroes of our age.”

An auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, Schneider told the Italian daily Il Giornale that the “Catholic Church, just like every human person with good sense and sound reason, has always rejected homosexual activity.”

Handing children over to homosexual couples “is a violation of the fundamental right of every child to grow up and be raised by a dad and a mom,” he said.

The bishop’s words come in the wake of an ongoing battle in the United States over the unwillingness of adoption and foster care agencies run by the Catholic Church to place children in homes with gay couples.

Last March, Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services ceased new foster care placements with Catholic Social Services and another faith-based agency, Bethany Christian Services, because of the agencies’ policy of not placing foster children with same-sex couples.

At the time, the city also announced its intention to terminate its contract with Catholic Social Services at the end of June because of its beliefs about gay marriage.

In May, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Philadelphia for cutting off Catholic Social Services from foster parent placements because of its religious beliefs regarding the nature of marriage.

Philadelphia’s actions “discriminate against Plaintiffs for their religious beliefs and practices, constitute a breach of contract, unlawfully try to coerce them to speak contrary to their religious beliefs, and restrict Plaintiffs’ religious exercise in violation of state law and the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitutions,” the 40-page complaint stated.

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