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The Roman Catholic Church is planning to enlist the support of more than a million regular worshippers in opposition to Government plans for same-sex marriage.
Senior bishops are preparing to draw up a letter to be read at Masses across England and Wales when the Government consultation on plans to redefine marriage gets under way later this month, it is understood.
It would be only the second time in recent history that a joint pastoral letter on behalf of all Catholic bishops in England and Wales has been issued on an issue of political importance.
The move is being proposed as the debate over extending marriage to homosexual couples gathers momentum.
Alan Duncan, the Conservative international development minister, who is in a civil partnership, said that the plans would not apply to religious marriage.
“I don’t think they need cause any upset for Cardinal O’Brien because they’re not really going to affect him,” Mr Duncan said.
But one of Mr Duncan’s Conservative colleagues, Peter Bone MP, argued that the parents and teachers who objected to promoting same-sex marriage in schools could be ostracised.
“If marriage is redefined, schools will have no choice but to give children equivalent teaching on same-sex marriage, even those children of a very young age, including those at primary school,” he wrote.
“So what will happen to parents who because of religious, or philosophical beliefs take their children out of lessons?
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They’ll find their children have already done their homework when they get home.“So what will happen to parents who because of religious, or philosophical beliefs take their children out of lessons?”