The Catholic Church in Kerala is up in arms against the proposal of the Congress-led Central Government to de-criminalise homosexuality. The Centre’s proposal to repeal Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code has not found favour with the Catholic Church, already at loggerheads with the CPM-led LDF Government in the state on proposed law reforms that included legalising mercy killing and persuading couples from having a third child.

Church spokesperson Fr Paul Thelakkattu has said that homosexuality is intrinsically immoral and the Church will not accept the move to legalise it. Homosexuality is against the teachings of the Catholic Church, and gay marriages and sexual relation between persons of the same gender could not be allowed, he added.

Fr Thelakkattu said the Church had always been sympathetic towards homosexuals and that they should be nursed back to normalcy through proper treatment and counselling.

He said the Government move would mean giving license to the sexual perversions of a section of the society. Rights of homosexuals is in itself a misnomer, said the Church spokesperson.

The ruling party at the Centre would be forced to pay heed to the concerns of the Catholic Church that had supported the Congress to the hilt in the last general elections. Though the CPM has broached its intention to woo the estranged Church, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council had recently decided to continue with its pro-Congress stand. It was the recommendations of the Kerala Law Reforms Commission, appointed by the CPM Government, which forced the Church to turn against the party before the elections. The Church had campaigned that the Left proposals to give sanctity to suicide and euthanasia were meant to wreck the value system in society.