The Vatican said today that gay marriage, abortion, lesbians wanting to bear children and other practices it sees as threats to the traditional family were signs of "the eclipse of God".
A 60-page document, called "Family and Human Procreation," strongly restated many of the Roman Catholic Church's positions on sexuality, marriage and life but went further, saying the family today was more endangered than at any time before in history.
"The causes are diverse but the 'eclipse' of God, creator of man, is at the root of the profound current crisis concerning the truth about man, about human procreation and the family," said the document, prepared by the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family.
It said the family was under attack around the world, even in traditionally Christian cultures, by what it called "radical currents" proposing new family models.
It listed these threats as homosexual marriages, giving gay couples equal legal recognition as married heterosexuals, lesbians demanding the right to bear children through artificial insemination and gays who want to adopt children.
The Vatican document comes just days after President Bush urged the Senate to pass a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Mr Bush, in his radio address last weekend, called for a constitutional amendment to keep "activist" judges from overturning efforts by some state legislatures to ban gay marriage.
Gay marriage has been an increasingly divisive issue in the United States since a Massachusetts court ruled in 2003 that the state legislature could not ban it, paving the way for same-sex marriages in the United States the following year.