Spanish Catholics support same-sex marriage rights

Several Spanish Catholic organizations countered the official position of the Spanish Catholic Church when they voiced their support on Tuesday for the right of gays and lesbians to marry, Agence France-Presse reports. "Civil marriage is a judicial institution, a human construction that can and must evolve to adapt to new ways of understanding society," said a manifesto published by a Catholic group associated with the magazine Iglesia Viva (Living Church) and the religious information Web site Atrio. The "Manifesto for Conscious Christian Objection to Interference by the Catholic Hierarchy" calls on supporters to stand against the orders of the Spanish bishops' conference whose "doctrine is not evangelically inspired but ecclesiastically determined." At a congress that concluded Sunday in Madrid, theologians and Christians from the European Church Network for Liberty also declared their "solidarity with the struggle of the gay and lesbian community for the recognition of their human rights." The Spanish episcopate, which is publicly backed by the Vatican, renewed its call Friday for Catholics to clearly and incisively oppose Spain's proposed law authorizing marriage and adoption for gays, calling it "a step backward on the path to civilization." The law is supposed to enter into force later this year after approval by the upper house.