GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Pontiff Benedict XVI yesterday once again spoke out against the issuing of legal rights for same-sex couples.

Laws are currently in development in Italy which would give the majority of de facto relationships legal rights, but the Catholic Church has spoken out against the laws due to the rights that would be issued to same-sex couples as a result of the legislation.

When speaking at the Paris Academy of Political and Social Science yesterday, the Pope said "the confusion at the level of marriage and the failure to recognize what it means to be humane, from conception until death, leaves us to think we are in a period where humanity does not really exist."

"It is necessary in personal life, as well as in public life, to have the courage to tell the truth and to pursue it. I invite the civil authorities to show courage."

Senators and members of parliament from all major parties are expected to oppose the laws on the basis of moral grounds.

Including same-sex couples, Italy currently has an estimated amount of 550,000 de facto couples that have no legal rights.