Pope On Gay Marriage: A Threat To 'Justice And Peace'

Pope Benedict XVI says gay marriage poses a threat to "justice and peace."

Pope on gay marriage

In his message for World Day of Peace 2013 over the weekend, the Roman Catholic leader said attempts to give gay unions the same status as marriages between men and women "actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society."

"These principles are not truths of faith, nor are they simply a corollary of the right to religious freedom," the pope said. "They are inscribed in human nature itself, accessible to reason and thus common to all humanity."

He added: "The Church's efforts to promote them are not therefore confessional in character, but addressed to all people, whatever their religious affiliation. Efforts of this kind are all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, since this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace."

This is not the first time that Pope Benedict XVI voiced out his opposition on gay marriage. He had previously said same-sex marriage bears an "immense human and economic cost" that threatens the "future of humanity itself."