Reference is made to the article MP Does Not Rule Out Gay Marriages Bill (March 3). Throughout the article, at times reference is made to “gay marriage” and at other times reference is made to “gay civil unions”, in such a way that it is not clear to which the article is referring.

A case in point is the comment attributed to Evarist Bartolo where he says that “within the Church’s ranks, there were those who were in favour of marriage equality”. Immediately afterwards, he quotes the Bishop of Ragusa as coming out in favour of gay civil unions.

Bishop Paola Urso, the Bishop of Ragusa, in an interview to Quotidiano.net explicitly said that he is not in favour of gay marriage. (http://qn.quotidiano.net/cronaca/ 2012/01/11/651009-vescovo_urso_stato_riconosca_unione.shtml).

Only recently, on January 9, in his address to the Diplomatic Corps, Pope Benedict XVI clearly expressed the Church’s teaching on this matter: “In addition to a clear goal, that of leading young people to a full knowledge of reality and thus of truth, education needs settings.

“Among these, pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman. This is not a simple social convention but rather the fundamental cell of every society.

“Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.

“The family unit is fundamental for the educational process and for the development both of individuals and states; hence there is a need for policies which promote the family and aid social cohesion and dialogue. It is in the family that we become open to the world and to life”.

(www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2012/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20120109_diplomatic-corps_en.html).