Vatican urges rallying against 'de facto' marriages

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican has blasted lawmakers for giving legal recognition to so-called ''de facto'' unions - including those between homosexuals - and said attempts to allow adoption by gays were ''a great danger.''

A 77-page document made public Tuesday by The Pontifical Council for the Family was built heavily around similar denunciations over the last few years by Pope John Paul II.

Italian gay groups, stung over the summer by the Vatican's moves to try to block gay pride events in Rome, denounced the latest pronouncement on homosexual unions.

''God's plan has nothing to do with the lay state,'' said Franco Grillini, a former president of the gay-rights organization Arcigay.

The Vatican's council on family matters also presented a proposal to make sex crimes against children, including ''sex tourism'' exploitation, crimes against humanity.

But the bulk of the positions presented Tuesday hammered away at unions between gays as well as legal recognition for unmarried heterosexual couples.

While not citing any particular country, the Vatican spoke of ''great concern'' about lawmakers' efforts ''in many countries with an ancient Christian tradition'' to give legal status to unmarried couples.

Earlier this month, Germany granted legal recognition to gay couples, following similar moves over the last decade by other Western European countries.

''De facto unions are the result of private behavior and should remain on the private level,'' the Vatican said. It described as a ''serious sign of the contemporary breakdown in the social and moral conscience,'' political efforts to give institutional status to de facto couples.

It said attempts to legalize the adoption of children by homosexual couples added ''an element of great danger.''