The powerful Church of Greece on Tuesday formally announced its opposition to a bill legalising same-sex marriage and adoption that is expected to come before parliament next month.
The church’s governing body, the Holy Synod, said the bill “condemns future children to grow up without a father or mother in an environment of confusion” and will encourage “the exploitation of vulnerable women” as surrogate mothers.
“The duality of the sexes and their complementarity are not social inventions, but come from God,” the Synod said in a statement after the five hour meeting.
The head of the church Archbishop Ieronymos slammed the proposed law as part of a bid to impose a “new reality that seeks only to corrupt the homeland’s social cohesion.”
Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who is personally promoting the issue, has said a parliamentary vote will be held next month.
The bill is expected to be approved by the cabinet on Wednesday.
But around a third of Mitsotakis‘ 158 lawmakers in parliament are likely to oppose it.
Mitsotakis, who had pledged legislation after winning a new four-year-term in June, has said existing assisted reproduction rules will not be modified to allow same-sex couples the right to surrogacy.
The issue is a priority for the main opposition leftist Syriza party, whose leader Stefanos Kasselakis has said he and his American husband want to become parents through surrogacy.
Syriza and the socialist party PASOK are expected to support the bill.
Opinion polls have shown a majority of Greeks support same-sex marriage, but oppose surrogacy.
