Pope to Fight Resolution to Allow Gays to Marry : Vatican: Pontiff speaks out against European Parliament’s non-binding measure, which would also give homosexuals the right to adopt children. ‘We can’t let this pass,’ he says.

Pope John Paul said Thursday that the Roman Catholic Church would fight a European Parliament resolution proposing that homosexual couples be allowed to marry and adopt children.

“We can’t let this pass,” the Pope said.

The Pope departed from a prepared address to bishops attending a Vatican seminar on the problems of the family to make a clear reference to Tuesday’s controversial resolution.

Reading the prepared part of his text, the Pope said society could not achieve authentic progress without safeguarding the unity of the family.

“More and more public authorities who are alert and far-sighted are becoming aware of this elementary civil and political truth,” the Pope said, reading his text.

He then added in unscripted remarks: “Not all of them (public authorities), however, as we have seen. We have seen and we must react. We can’t let this pass.”

It was not clear what the church would do to fight Tuesday’s resolution, which was drawn up by German Green deputy Claudia Roth and approved at the parliament in Strasbourg by 159 votes to 96.

Two years ago, the Vatican issued a document to contest moves to give homosexuals equal rights, particularly in the United States.

That document said homosexuals could legitimately be discriminated against in employment, housing and the adoption of children.

The latest resolution, which is not binding on the 12 European Union states, also calls for an end to the prosecution of homosexuality as a public nuisance or gross indecency, and to discrimination in criminal, civil, contract and commercial law.

The Pope spoke a day after the Vatican newspaper condemned the resolution in an editorial that said “no man can take the place of a natural mother.” The newspaper said children adopted by homosexuals would bear the scars of suffering and frustration.