“For a child, the irreducible difference between the sexes of their parents is fundamental, it is the model that helps them shape their identity and find their right place among others”. This is the position of the French Catholic Church in regard to the decision rendered last Tuesday by the administrative Court of Besançon to grant a female homosexual couple the right to adopt a child.
The French bishops’ viewpoint is expressed by Mgr Jean-Charles Descubes, archbishop of Rouen and president of the Bishops’ Council for Family and Social Matters. “For many – wrote the bishop -, this decision represents a step forward towards a legislative evolution aimed at granting homosexual persons the right to adopt a child”. “Adoption, however, is not an individual right. Its aim, by contrast, is to protect the child who has been deprived of their natural parents. It is the best interest of the child that should guide political and administrative decisions.”
The statement reads: “Through adoption, children are given the chance to experience family life and be educated in a filial system that should remain clear. A family is based on the complementarity between two beings, a man and a woman, whose union is rooted in the sexual difference inscribed in their bodies”.