Society must continue giving “preference” to the family built on marriage between a man and a woman, the bishops said yesterday in the wake of Parliament’s approval of the Civil Unions Bill.

The new law gives same-sex couples the rights and obligations of married couples.

“If this family [based on a heterosexual married couple] disappears, we would have harmed humanity,” the bishops warned.

They hoped that the State would now commit itself to strengthen the family born out of marriage between a man and a woman.

“The natural family is an indispensable resource for the country,” they said, quoting Pope Francis’s words that weakening the family bond was particularly grave since it concern-ed society’s fundamental building block.

Gozo Bishop Mario Grech, Archbishop Paul Cremona and Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna insisted the relationship in a gay couple was “by its nature totally different” from that of a heterosexual couple.

The doors of the Church will remain open to those who seek the Lord

“Nobody can deny the differences in sexuality between a man and a woman but which were at the same time complementary,” they said.

But they noted that the fundamental rights of every person irrespective of sexual orientation should always be protected by the State.

While insisting that God’s vision of marriage and sexuality was different from that championed by the Civil Unions Bill, the bishops said the Christian community was obliged to love every person.

“The doors of the Church will remain open to those who genuinely seek the Lord,” they said.

The law also gives gay couples the possibility to adopt children, a contentious issue, which the Church had criticised.

In their statement the bishops said society had to ensure legal instruments were in place to protect children’s interests and rights.

“We must be vigilant to ensure that the interest of parents in children is motivated solely by their yearning to satisfy the children’s true needs,” they said.