Recognise gay unions, Bonny urges

Antwerp Bishop Johan Bonny, widely tipped in Belgium as the next Archbishop of Brussels and thus the country’s Primate, has whipped up a storm by calling for church recognition of same-sex relationships, writes Tom Heneghan.

Bonny said in an interview after Christmas that the Church had to follow developments in modern societies.

“We must look within the Church for a formal recognition of the relationship that many LGBT couples have,” he told the Flemish daily De Morgen. He favoured “a diversity of forms of recognition” while traditional heterosexual marriage should “keep its own sacramental character and liturgical form”.