Portuguese President Silva Will Sign Same-Sex Marriage Bill, Pope Benedict Failed

     Pope Benedict XVI failed to sink Portugal's marriage equality bill. A mere three days after the pope's visit in which he decried gay rights, President Anibal Silva announced he's signing the bill, but not because it's the right thing to do.  He knows the parliament will override his veto. 

     NPR reports:

     Portugal's conservative president announced Monday he is reluctantly ratifying a law allowing gay marriage, making the predominantly Catholic country the sixth in Europe to let same-sex couples wed.  President Anibal Cavaco Silva said he would not veto the bill because majority liberal lawmakers would only overturn his decision. The country must focus instead on battling a crippling economic crisis that has increased unemployment and deepened poverty, he said.

     "Given that fact, I feel I should not contribute to a pointless extension of this debate, which would only serve to deepen the divisions between the Portuguese and divert the attention of politicians away from the grave problems affecting us," Cavaco Silva said.  He said he was setting aside his "personal convictions," though he did not elaborate and did not take reporters' questions.

     The country's parliament passed the Socialist government-backed bill in January, with the support of all of Portugal's left-of-center parties, who together have a majority. Right-of-center parties opposed the measure and demanded a national referendum.  Elsewhere in Europe, gay marriage is permitted in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway. Five U.S. states and Washington, D.C., have also legalized same-sex marriage, as have Canada and South Africa.

     Even more good news from Portugal.  The nation has 10.6 million residents of which roughly 90% (9.5 million) are Catholic.  Of these 9.5 million Catholics, only 2 million describe themselves as practicing Catholics.  That's roughly 20%.  The current success rate of the church in Portugal is 20%.  Wow.

     If only the United States could only get this kind of separation of church and state going.  After all, we claim to have invented it.