VATICAN, April 25, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the Vatican's recently published lexicon nears translation into English and other languages, the Italian version released earlier this year has stirred considerable controversy. The 876 page document involves the interpretation of 78 "ambiguous terms" involved in "discussion of the family, life and ethical questions". In a recent interview with the Italian news agency I-Media, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, reaffirms that the document is an official document of the Holy See and was directed to politicians as well as to the faithful.

Catholic World News excerpts an I-Media quote with the Cardinal in which he says of the document: "It was edited under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for the Family, and received the approval of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that sense it is a document of the Holy See."

Recently The Tablet, a Catholic publication in the UK, reviewed the lexicon revealing that on homosexuality, the lexicon says it, "has no rights because it has no social value". 'Homophobia', the lexicon says is "a term created by homosexual associations to stigmatise all those who question and do not accept the banalisation and the 'normalisation' of homosexuality".

The clear and unambiguous statements have caused a furor in homosexual activist groups who are accustomed to the soft-peddling of Catholic teachings by local church leaders and institutions.

On abortion, the lexicon says, "No law in the world, no political system can ever make abortion lawful nor the right to abortion, which is in itself unlawful", adding that any state that attacks the right to life from the moment of conception until natural death "is not democratic".
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/apr/03042502.html
See the Catholic World News and The Tablet coverage:
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=35497
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/citw.cgi?past-00123

See previous LifeSite report:
NEW VATICAN DOCUMENT SEEKS TO CLARIFY PURPOSELY MISLEADING U.N. LANGUAGE
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/dec/02121102.html