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The result of the recent marriage equality referendum in Ireland, which granted same sex couples the right to marry has been labelled “a defeat” for the Catholic Church by the Vatican’s daily newspaper.

The Irish vote in favour of same sex marriage constitutes “a defeat” that highlights a gap between the Church and modern society, the Vatican newspaper said Monday.

While neither the Pope nor the Vatican have made any public statement since the Irish referendum result, the Vatican’s daily paper  Osservatore Romano daily spoke of “a challenge for the whole Church,” and of “the distance, in some areas, between society and the Church.

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“The margin between the ‘yes’ and the ‘no’ votes was too large not to be accepted as a defeat. It was the result of high voter turnout, notably among young people,” the Vatican paper wrote.

The scale of the vote would have shocked many within the Catholic church, with 62 percent voting in favour of same sex marriage and 38 percent against, in a traditionally catholic country where being homosexual was illegal until 1993.

 Article | Levi Joule

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