Members of Italian gay rights group and political party “Radical” demonstrate, 31 July 2003, at piazza San Pietro at the Vatican against the publication of a strongly-worded eleven-page document opposing the legalization of marriages between persons of the same sex and tasking Catholic politicians with a moral duty to fight laws allowing gay marriages, which are already allowed in many parts of Europe and North America. The document, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Catholic Church’s chief doctrinal enforcer, contains no new doctrine, it intensifies the Church’s war on homosexuality. The banner reads : “Atheism equals Liberty” . AFP PHOTO / PATRICK HERTZOG (Photo credit should read PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images)
