"It's a war of God!" against gay marriage in Argentina

"It's a war of God!" It was with these words that the primate of Argentina, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, urged Catholics to mobilize against the bill allowing marriage between same-sex couples across the country. The proposal - passed the House of Representatives in May, with 126 votes in favor and 110 against (and 4 abstentions and 16 absences) - will be voted in the Senate tomorrow.

If the bill passes the Senate, Argentina will be the first country in Latin America and the tenth in the world to feature a gay marriage law throughout its territory. But the result promises to be tight. Several Senators - pressured on one side by the Catholic Church and the other by the government of President Cristina Kirchner, who defends the project of law in progress - remain undecided.

Cardinal Bergoglio said that the project of marriage between same-sex couples is a "movement of the devil" who want to "destroy God's plan." Bergoglio, a papável who finished second in the vote of the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI called on the Argentine population to "support this war of God." Already Monsignor Edward Martin, bishop of the city of Río Cuarto, a major agricultural centers of the country, in Cordoba province, said the "gay marriage endangered the future of the fatherland."