In a statement released yesterday by the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI ranked same-sex marriage with nuclear arms proliferation, environmental pollution, economic inequality, abortion, and birth control as threats to world peace in a message for for the World Day of Peace on January 1st, according to Religion News Service:

“Presenting the nuclear family as the ‘first and indispensable teacher of peace’ and the ‘primary agency of peace,’ the 15-page document links sexual and medical ethics to international relations. ‘Everything that serves to weaken the family based on the marriage of a man and woman, everything that directly or indirectly stands in the way of its openness to the responsible acceptance of new life … constitutes an objective obstacle on the road to peace,’ Benedict writes.”

Pope Says Abortion, Gay Marriage Are ‘Obstacles’ to World Peace [the pew forum]

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