POPE SLAMS GAYS IN NEW YEAR ADDRESS

The Pope chose to see gays and lesbians as a threat to families and world peace in his New Year public address on Tuesday.

Speaking to thousand at the Vatican and to many others on television screens around the world on the first day of 2008,

Pope Benedict XVI again focused on the primacy of the traditional heterosexual family.

He said that the family is “based on the unbreakable union of man and woman,” repeating his recent statements that there is a “direct relationship that exists between the family and peace in the world.”

The Pope has repeatedly stressed that society faces disruption and chaos if the traditional family unit was not supported.

The Vatican has strongly opposed any form of legalising same-sex unions or marriage around the world.