His disquisition on the dangers posed by same-sex marriage followed a passage deploring the modern tendency to avoid lifelong commitments in human relationships, as if that were not precisely what gay marriage is about. Of course, in the pope’s view, commitment in gay relationships is part of the problem: more and more people, especially in the Western world, now claim the freedom to choose their own sexual identities instead of sticking to the “natural” roles “ordained by God.”
这真是个令人困扰的演讲。他先是谴责了一番现代社会人际关系中不再有一辈子的承诺，接着谈论了同性婚姻的危险，好像后者就是前者似的。当然，在教皇看来，同性恋关系中的承诺乃是问题的一部分：越来越多的人，特别是西方人，宣称拥有选择自己性身份的自由，而不必坚持“上帝规定的”“自然”角色。