Gay activists
protest pope outside Vatican

Some 40 gay rights activists protested outside St. Peter's Square on Friday, a day after Pope Benedict XVI made a speech condemning same-sex marriage.The group stayed out of the square, which is Vatican territory, but held up banners and placards criticizing the Roman Catholic Church. One banner read "2000 years of discrimination" and said the church should stay out of Italian affairs.

Benedict, in an address to Italian politicians on Thursday, restated the church's opposition to same-sex marriages and to proposed laws that would formally recognize the rights of gay couples. The demonstration took place on the eighth anniversary of a suicide by a gay man in St. Peter's Square. The demonstrators were commemorating Alfredo Ormando, a 39-year-old Italian who set himself on fire there in 1998 to protest the church's austere position on homosexuality. He later died of his injuries. (Reuters)