BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — “Gay unions don’t harm peace. Weapons do.” 
That was part of the message-by-placard that about 15 gay rights activists held aloft during the pontiff’s weekly address at the Vatican, The Associated Press reports. Other signs read “Talk About Love,” “Love Has No Barriers,” “Marry Peace” and “Homophobia (equals) death.”
The protest was staged in response to the pope’s recently released annual message of peace in which he called gay marriage a threat to peace. In the message entitled “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” Pope Benedict says attempts to grant gay unions the same status as marriage between men and women “actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society.”
According to AP, one of their reporters saw police seizing placards from some of the protesters who tried to enter St Peter’s Square.
Uganda’s parliamentary speaker, Rebecca Kadaga, who has promised passage of anti-gay legislation that reportedly still includes the death penalty, recently received a blessing from the pope at the Vatican. 
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