The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal
Ennio Antonelli, recently affirmed that adoption policies should
prioritize “the good of the child, who needs both a father and a
mother.”
Cardinal Antonelli’s comments came in response to a petition filed by
the Supreme Court of Appeals in Italy requesting that Congress pass a
law allowing the adoption of minors by single adults.
According to Italian law, only married couples can adopt children.
The Court of Appeals made the petition after a woman from Genoa
requested the court legitimize her adoption of a Belarusian girl.
The
girl lived with the woman for two years in Russia and then in the United
States, where the adoption was declared valid.
Although the ruling by the U.S. court was upheld by the Court of
Appeals in Genoa in 2009, the mother is still subject to some
limitations under the law.