Pope Hitler Youth Won't Like This
Guardian:

Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Friday April 22, 2005

Spain has become the third country in Europe to legalise gay marriage, with parliament also giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children.

The move by the Socialist government of this traditionally Roman Catholic country yesterday provoked the ire of the church, which has found itself increasingly at odds with the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, since he took power a year ago. [snip]

"This is an initiative that brings up to date a question of rights within society," said the justice minister, Juan Fernando López Aguilar. "It is a reform that improves people's lives."

Belgium and the Netherlands are the only two other European countries that have legalised gay marriage so far.

Spaniards are more liberal about the issue than might be expected in a traditionally Catholic country.

An opinion poll by the government's Centre for Sociological Investigations last year revealed that 66% of Spaniards favoured legalising gay marriage, while only 26% were against it.

The law may, however, face a challenge before the country's constitutional tribunal after the General Council of Judicial Power, an official advisory body which has a conservative majority, claimed that "gay" and "marriage" were incompatible terms.

"Heterosexuality is an essential part of the whole concept of matrimony," it said. "Matrimony is either heterosexual, or it is not matrimony."

Given his track record, I fully expect Benedict Arnold will threaten to refuse Communion to Spanish citizens who voted in favor of equal rights for gays. And what did I tell you, the silver lining to the papal cloud is the likelihood his selection will greatly hasten the demise of the Catholic Church. Looks like Timothy Garton Ash agrees.

Update: via Atrios, it seems that Pope Ratzi the Nazi (props to Hecate for coining that one) has come out swinging in his first at bat, telling "Roman Catholic officials [they] should be prepared to lose their jobs rather than co-operate with the law."
- posted by TJ @ 10:01 PM