To understand why the Catholic Church argues against gay couples entering into civil rather than just religious marriages, it's important to understand the larger philosophical position. According to them, this isn't simply a question of religious doctrines and Catholic dogmas: it's a matter of basic moral principles.
Some quotes from the document Considerations Regarding Proposals To Give Legal Recognition To Unions Between Homosexual Persons, which was published by the Congregation For The Doctrine Of The Faith (formerly known as the Inquisition) might be helpful:
- The Church's teaching on marriage and on the complementarity of the sexes reiterates a truth that is evident to right reason and recognized as such by all the major cultures of the world. Marriage is not just any relationship between human beings. It was established by the Creator with its own nature, essential properties and purpose. No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman, who by mutual personal gift, proper and exclusive to themselves, tend toward the communion of their persons. ... The natural truth about marriage was confirmed by the Revelation contained in the biblical accounts of creation, an expression also of the original human wisdom, in which the voice of nature itself is heard.
- There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts "close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved"
Note the emphasis that this isn't a question of Catholic doctrine and the use of phrases like "right reason" and "natural truth." The point is to separate this from the Vatican's position on other issues like the Eucharist. The latter is a question of Catholic doctrine and the Vatican wouldn't try to argue that everyone should receive the Eucharist in a certain way.
According to Catholic philosophers, though, there exists a set of "truths" which have been revealed by God to all of humanity and which transcend any one religion. These truths cannot be denied or suppressed in the name of religious freedom or civil liberties because they are "true" regardless of what religion one follows. They *happen to be revealed in the Bible and Christian tradition, but they aren't *dependent upon* the Bible or Christian tradition.
An easy example of this would be murder. The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to murder but would not argue against the legalization of murder simply on the basis of Catholic doctrine; instead, it would argue on the basis of "natural law" and claim that God has revealed to everyone the murder is evil, regardless of what religion or ideology one follows.
Is gay marriage also contrary to natural law? Many argue that it is, but there's no obvious reason to think so. The Vatican states that "marriage exists solely between a man and a woman," but even a cursory look at the history of marriage reveals that that isn't always the case. Marriages with multiple partners, for example, have been very common and same-sex unions have existed in one form or another in many cultures.
Catholic teaching also says that the natural purpose of marriage and sex is procreation; thus, any union or sexual act where procreation isn't theoretically possible isn't in accordance with natural law and is intrinsically immoral. Curiously, only gay marriages are typically cited as examples of “naturally sterile” unions. Are they the only sort that exists? Of course not - but they are the only sort the Catholic Church wants banned by law. Unfortunately for the Vatican, however, most people today no longer consider procreation the necessary and intrinsic purpose of either sex or marriage.
The Vatican's position might be defended via the idea that homosexuality itself is wrong - after all, Catholic teaching states that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." If homosexual acts are contrary to the natural revelation then it would stand to reason that homosexual marriages would also be contrary to what God wants.
This, however, is dependent upon a certain view of sex and sexuality which simply isn't accepted today. Homosexual acts have been documented in all societies and in just about all animals that have ever been studied. There is no clear reason to think that there is something intrinsically wrong with them if we don't buy into the idea that sex only exists for procreation.
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