Same-sex marriage has now become legal in the Republic of Ireland, after new legislation came into effect on Monday.
The law was passed after a referendum in May, when the Irish state became the first in the world to legalise same-sex civil marriage by popular vote. It is not yet known when and where the first same-sex wedding will be held. But the first people to be affected are same-sex couples who have already wed legally abroad. Their marriages are now automatically recognised by the state.
Earlier this year, you’ll recall, the Vatican had strong words condemning this move:
A senior Vatican official has attacked the legalisation of gay marriage in Ireland. The referendum that overwhelmingly backed marriage equality last weekend was a “defeat for humanity”, he claimed. “I was deeply saddened by the result,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said at a conference in Rome on Tuesday night. “The church must take account of this reality, but in the sense that it must strengthen its commitment to evangelisation. I think that you cannot just talk of a defeat for Christian principles, but of a defeat for humanity.”
And today we celebrate...