Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Valencia made this denunciation in a homily on May 13.

In his preaching, the cardinal also listed gender theory as among the threats to the family.

A Spanish network set up to help refugees filed a complaint, accusing the cardinal of xenophobia.

Cardinal Cañizares had questioned if all the immigrants arriving in Spain were "clean wheat."

A second complaint process was started by the Valencian LGBT association Lambda, together with 55 other organisations.

A judge ruled on Thursday that the cardinal, simply by using such speech, was not committing a hate crime.

Rather, he was exercising his right to freedom of expression.

Criminal proceedings were dismissed without further investigation.

This was because the magistrate saw neither "criminal intent" nor an appeal to "hatred and violence".

Before the judgement, the cardinal had defended himself through an open letter.

Cardinal Cañizares wrote that he is not "homophobic, xenophobic nor sexist".

He added that he respects every person without excluding anyone.

He also apologised for the words that "might have hurt some", and he asked for reciprocity.

"Stop harassing the Church and respect freedom of religion," he wrote.

Earlier this month, Cardinal Cañizares led thousands in an "act of reparation" for an invitation to Valencia's gay parade that depicted a couple of kissing Madonnas.

The cardinal was supported by Spain's bishops' conference in doing the reparation.

Sources

• Crux
• Image: Catholic News Service

On May 13, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares of Valencia delivered a homily in which he stated the family has become a target in various ways.

"The family is haunted today, in our culture, by an endless threat of serious difficulties, and this is not hidden from anyone," Cardinal Cañizares said.

"There we have legislation contrary to the family, the action of political and social forces, with added movements and actions of the gay empire, of ideas such as radical feminism, or the most insidious of all, gender theory," he said.

The cardinal is a former prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Soon after Cardinal Cañizares's remarks, several pro-LGBT and feminist organisations announced they were going to file an official complaint with the local "Office of Hate Crimes".

Technically, they intend to charge Cardinal Cañizares with "apologia", a term in Spanish law for encouraging or defending a criminal act.

Spain has had anti-discrimination laws including penalties for "hate speech" since 1996.

Seeing the reaction to his remarks, Cardinal Cañizares decided to publish the homily in full, with an accompanying note asking, "Is it homophobic to defend the family?"

He also requested "objective" lawyers and jurists to look at the homily content and decide if what he said is in fact "against the law" or homophobic.

In his letter, the cardinal said that the "censorship and condemnation" he received in some media, and the attacks from organisations and politicians, made him recall "stages of our past history" during which homilies and preachers were "censored and condemned".

He was referring to Spain's fascist past in which sermons deemed seditious could see priests heavily fined.

Pope Francis has also warned against an "ideology of gender" with one recent example being in his exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

Valencia's auxiliary Bishop Esteban Escudero defended Cardinal Cañizares, noting that he was "defending the family amidst the challenges the Pope talks about".

Sources

• Crux
• Image: Plinthos