The BBC:

The Welsh government has written to all Catholic schools in Wales to remind them to give a "balanced perspective" when discussing same-sex marriage.

Education minister Leighton Andrews' intervention comes after the Catholic Education Service (CES) invited schools to ask pupils to sign a petition opposing gay civic marriage laws.

... "I trust you will ensure that if your pupils have been made aware of this correspondence they will also be made aware of the converse view in order to give them a balanced perspective."

... The CES has now issued new guidelines to its schools to remind them that children under the age of 16 cannot sign the online petition.

A statement on its website added: "The Catholic Church's view on the importance of marriage is a religious view, not a political one."