Campaigners protest the Vatican in support of marriage equality
Gay rights campaigners held a protest near St Peter’s Square on Sunday, during the Pope’s weekly prayers, after he said that legalising marriage equality “threatened the institute of marriage”.
About fifteen activists attended the protest, and carried with them coloured paper hearts emblazoned with messages such as “love has no barriers”, “gay marriage”, “talk about love”, “marry peace”, and “homophobia=death”, reported AFP.
The protesters were not allowed to access the square, which was full of worshippers who turned out to hear Pope Benedict XVI recite the Angelus on the third Sunday of Advent.
He called for promotion of “the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union.
“Such attempts actually harm and help to destabilise marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society,” he said.
Another of the banners held up by protesters read “love thy neighbour”.
