|TOP|The Vatican has strongly restated the position of the Roman Catholic Church on sexuality, marriage and life in a new document in which it warned that the family was at danger now more than at any other time in history.

The 60-page document entitled “Family and Human Procreation” warned that gay marriage, abortion, and lesbians wanting to bear children among other practices were signs of the “eclipse of God” and major threats to the family, reports Reuters.

The document was released just days after US President George W. Bush called on the US Senate to approve a constitutional amendment that would outlaw same-sex marriage.

"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.

|AD|In the document, the Vatican said that the family was under attack across the globe, even in countries with strong Christian roots, from what it termed “radical currents” that are attempting to introduce new family models.

Among the threats laid out by the Vatican were homosexual marriages, the right to equal recognition for gay couples as married heterosexuals, lesbians demanding the right to bear children through artificial insemination and gays who want to adopt children.

The issue of same-sex marriage has become increasingly divisive in the US since America’s first homosexual marriage took place in 2004 following a ruling from a Massachusetts court in 2003 that the state legislature could not ban gay marriages.

The constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage is expected to be defeated Wednesday despite the numerous appeals from President Bush, and the opposition to gay marriage from the majority of Americans.