Pope Benedict has said that marriage is not a 'casual, sociological entity' but 'a question of the correct relationship between a man and a woman'.
VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict, speaking out on hot topics that will figure in the campaigning for this year's Italian general elections, on Thursday condemned gay marriage and the use of the so-called 'abortion pill'.
Benedict, speaking to political leaders of the Rome region, said marriage was not a 'casual, sociological entity' but 'a question of the correct relationship between a man and a woman'.
Italy goes to the polls on April 9 and the Church's position on a host of issues could play a significant role in the result.
The elections will pit former European Commission president Romano Prodi's centre-left grouping known as 'The Union' against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's ruling centre-right.
Italy's Catholic Church has already served notice to the centre-left that it will fight any move to recognise some form of civil partnership for unwed heterosexual couples and gay couples.
Prodi has promised some form of recognition for unmarried couples but has stopped short of supporting gay marriage.
In his address, the Pope said the defence of traditional marriage was 'not a peculiarity of Catholic moral teaching but part of an elementary truth regarding our common humanity'.
Gay unions are already legal in several European countries, including traditionally Catholic Spain. Britain last month introduced a law allowing gays to formalise their relationships.
Italy's centre-left supports some form of legal recognition for gay or unwed heterosexual couples similar to that in France, which in 1999 granted all couples the right to form civil unions.
French unmarried couples have the right to joint social security, limited inheritance rights and other benefits.
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