Rome, Italy - Giving legal recognition to unmarried couples in Italy would eclipse the nature and value of traditional families and cause grave harm, a cardinal said Monday.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini said he did not believe most unmarried couples, both heterosexual and gay, want legal recognition.
In a rare concession, however, Ruini suggested that common law norms might be applied to offer some protection in certain cases - but not to homosexual couples.
The comments by Ruini, the president of the Italian Bishops' Conference and the pope's vicar for Rome, came amid a renewed debate over whether Italy should grant de facto couples some form of legal recognition.
Proposals to give legal recognition to de facto couples "are largely modeled on the institution of marriage, and envisage what might be called a 'small marriage:' something of which there is no real need and which would produce, on the contrary, an eclipsing of the nature and value of a family and a very grave harm to the Italian people," Ruini said in his speech before the Italian bishops' conference.
The debate in Italy was sparked last week when Romano Prodi, the center-left leader expected to challenge Premier Silvio Berlusconi in general elections next year, said he favored giving legal status to unmarried couples.
Prodi stopped short of proposing legalization of gay marriages, and said he was looking to a 1999 French law that gave unmarried couples, including homosexual couples, legal rights if they register their unions with the state.
Italy, where Vatican influence is strong, does not recognize unions of unmarried couples, including same-sex relationships. Gay and lesbian associations have been pushing for common law couples to have legal recognition in hopes that the move might pave the way for granting legal status to gay couples as well.
On Monday, Ruini said that de facto unions, while on the rise in Italy, "don't automatically imply any requests for legal recognition."
Ruini said that heterosexual couples are either looking to marry, or else "want to remain in a situation of anonymity, without any bonds." As far as gay couples go, Ruini said, "they are not always looking for legal recognition: on the contrary, many run away from it on principle, and want to remain an exclusively private matter."
The cardinal said common law norms might be applied to unmarried couples of different sex who require legal protection.