The defence of the family together with the defence of the right to life at all its stages is one of the most important missions of the Church in the contemporary culture of death. The Church does this in the believe that whoever undermines the fundamental role of the family causes a deep wound to society that is often impossible to repair.

In Spain the Socialist government plans to legalise same-sex marriages and to allow adoption by homosexual couples. The law would make Spain the third country to legalise same-sex marriage, after the Netherlands and Belgium.

Across the Atlantic, Justice Donna Wilson of the Family Law Division of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench ruled that the definition of marriage in Saskatchewan was unconstitutional and redefined it, making Saskatchewan the seventh Canadian province to create same-sex marriage.

"The common-law definition of marriage for civil purposes is declared to be 'the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others'," Wilson wrote in a five-page ruling. Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario, the Yukon, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia have already been forced by other activist judges to redefine marriage.

On the positive side one notes that voters approved measures defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman in all 51 states of the United States of America where the issue was on the ballot on November 2.

The Pope and other Church leaders repeatedly have been calling attention to what they see as the cultural and legal erosion of the established concept of marriage between a man and a woman under way in many developed countries.

"The family based on marriage is a natural and irreplaceable institution and is the fundamental element of the common good of every society," Pope John Paul said during a recent audience with the Pontifical Council for the Family at the conclusion of its three-day plenary assembly at the Vatican.

"Those who destroy this fundamental fabric of human society, not respecting its identity and distorting its role, cause a deep wound to society which often provokes irreparable damage," he said. The Pope gave a special nod to young couples, urging the members of the council to "renew your efforts to foster young families."

The subject of gay marriages was also recently addressed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger during an interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica.

He said that instituting forms of gay marriage does not help homosexuals and is "destructive for the family and for society". Cardinal Ratzinger said recent legislative proposals for gay marriage are part of a larger modern rupture between sexuality and fertility. They mark a radical departure from the conviction that the union between a man and a woman guarantees the future of humanity, he said.

Cardinal Ratzinger said this is a trend that "separates us from all the great cultures of humanity, which have always recognised the particular significance of sexuality: that a man and a woman are created to jointly be the guarantee of the future of humanity, a guarantee that is not only physical but also moral."

The cardinal said the Church should have "great respect" for homosexuals as people who "are suffering and want to find their way to live justly". But creating forms of gay marriage "does not really help these people," he said.