Rome, Italy - The leader of Italy's Roman Catholic Church attacked the European Parliament over a resolution calling for homosexual and heterosexual couples to be treated equally.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Pope's vicar for Rome, yesterday denounced last week's resolution as ''profoundly wrong and full of negative consequences''.
The January 18 resolution passed by the Strasbourg assembly warned the 25 member states that they would face possible legal action if they did not combat homophobia.
Ruini, president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, branded the resolution ''part of moral pressure aimed at weakening the very cornerstones of our civilisation''.
Ruini, who has been increasingly vocal as Italy prepares to hold national elections on April 9, said the Church agreed with the part of the resolution that said homosexuals should not be the subject of contempt or violence.
But he said the Church could not accept ''equating the rights of homosexual couples with those of true and legitimate families''.
MEPs ordered the Commission to come up with proposals to ensure the rights of people in same-sex marriages if they decided to live in countries where gay marriage is illegal, such as Italy.
MEPs did not specify any countries in their resolution but referred to ''a series of worrying events in a number of EU member states where gay prides or equality marches were banned and led to leading political and religious leaders using inflammatory, hate or threatening language''.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski attracted attention before his election by banning gay pride parades in Warsaw when he was mayor of the Polish capital, and by suggesting homosexuals should be barred from teaching.
Italy's centre left supports legal recognition for gay or unmarried heterosexual couples similar to that in France, which in 1999 granted all couples the right to form civil unions.
Pope Benedict forcefully told Italian politicians that it would be a mistake to legally recognise ''other forms of unions'' besides heterosexual marriage.
Last week a poll showed the Italian Church's sway over voters in the predominantly Catholic country was weakening.
It showed that nearly 69 per cent of Italian Catholics who were asked said they favoured some form of legal recognition of unmarried couples.
Tens of thousands of Italians protested in Rome and Milan this month demanding legal recognition for gay unions, which are already legal in several European countries, including traditionally Catholic Spain.