A noted Swiss theologian has responded to the non-theologian but former-papal MC, Archbp. Piero Marini, in the matter of Marini’s approval of recognition of civil same-sex unions.

Archbp. Marini, Piero (not to be confused with the present papal MC Msgr. Guido Marini) is, right now, the head of the Holy See’s office that organizes Eucharistic Congresses.

Archbp. Marini did not say same-sex “marriage” could be approved, but his approbation of same-sex unions makes that slope slipperier still. Another official of the Holy See also made a less than prudent statement to the press about this issue.

At CNA, we read that Fr. Martin Rhonheimer has responded.

Swiss theologian: Same-sex civil unions discriminate against married couples

By Estefania Aguirre

Rome, Italy, Apr 24, 2013 / 04:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After a Vatican official stated that the Church could support same-sex civil unions, a Swiss theologian is saying that if they are equated with marriage these unions discriminate against married heterosexual couples.

“Besides containing an erroneous moral message, it actually means to objectively discriminate against married people, who intentionally have engaged in a union ordered towards the task of the transmission of human life, accepting all the burdens and responsibilities of this task,” said Swiss theologian Father Martin Rhonheimer.

“Conferring legal equality to same-sex unions signifies to publicly establish, in the law system, the principle of dissociation of sexuality and procreation,” he explained in an April 22 telephone interview with CNA.

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“When equating homosexual unions to marriage, however, the legal system starts including a principle which in fact transforms the nature of marriage as a social and legal institution,” Fr. Rhonheimer stated.

“Besides being discriminating against those who bear considerable sacrifices in raising children and contribute in a most essential and irreplaceable way to the common good of society over time, it also has non-predictable long term consequences for the entire legal and social system,” he added.

He explained that approving same-sex unions could only be consistently argued for by assuming there is no moral relevant link between sexuality and procreation, an idea which is the legacy of the “sexual revolution” of the second half of the 20th century having disastrous effects on the societies of Western countries.

“Any attempt of proving the equality, in social and political terms, of heterosexual and homosexual unions is vain, simply because homosexual unions are by their very nature non-procreative,” Fr. Rhonheimer said.

According to the Swiss professor, the Church teaches that homosexual orientation is a disorder, but people who experience that disorder should not be blamed or somehow seen as guilty for having it.

“On the other hand, the Church teaches that homosexual acts are gravely and intrinsically sinful and that therefore persons with homosexual orientation should abstain from sexual acts, being continent (equal to unmarried people),” he said.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a document in June 2003 which stated that “respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.”

The document, titled “Considerations regarding proposals to give legal recognition to unions between homosexual persons,” says the common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family.

“Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behavior, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity,” the document says.