The
official results of Ireland's referendum last Friday (see
prior posting) that approved same-sex marriage was 62.07% yes and 37.93% no. (60.52% of the voters turned out for the election,) In a speech on Saturday (
full text) welcoming the result, Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny said in part:
So – the people went to the polls. It passed. The answer is YES. Yes to their future. Yes to their love. Yes to their equal marriage. That yes is heard loudly across the living world as a sound of pioneering leadership of our people and hopefully across the generations of gay men and women born as we say, before their time.
In an inteview on Saturday (
full text) ith Vatican Insider, Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin said in part:
The Church needs to ask itself when this cultural revolution began and why some of its members refused to see this change. There also needs to be a review of youth pastoral care: the referendum was won with young people’s votes and 90% of young people who voted “yes” to the motion, attended Catholic schools....
An individualistic idea of the family prevails. The concept of marriage as a fundamental element of social cohesion has been lost. A reasoning based on respect for the rights of the individual is more successful than one based on social ethics.
