SAME-SEX SHOCKER
POPE OK WITH CIVIL UNIONS
Pope Francis expressed support for same-sex unions in comments made in a documentary film that debuted in Rome Wednesday, garnering praise from progressive allies throughout the Catholic Church but drawing criticism from conservative factions.
The Pope’s remarks were a significant break from the Catholic Church’s traditional view that marriage is between a man and a woman — and could signal an important shift in the church’s recognition of gay people.
“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family,” Francis said in the documentary.
“Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” he added.
The pope’s comments came midway through a feature-length documentary, “Francesco,” that premiered at the Rome Film Festival.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” the 83-year-old leader of the Catholic Church said. “I stood up for that.”
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, the film chronicles the work of the Holy Father throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and his thoughts on women’s rights, sexual abuse in the church, racism, the refugee crisis and the LGBT community.
Or, in the words of the pope, those who live “on the existential peripheries.”
Previously, when he was Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples as an alternative to marriage, but he had never come out publicly in favor of such unions as pope, nor had any previous pontiff.
The Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest who has advocated for greater LGBT inclusion in the church, called the remarks momentous.
“First, he is saying them as Pope, not Archbishop of Buenos Aires,” Martin tweeted. “Second, he is clearly supporting, not simply tolerating, civil unions. Third, he is saying it on camera, not privately. Historic.”
But the Rev. Donald Paul Sullins, a conservative sociology professor at the Catholic University of America, said they “directly contradict the Catholic Church’s most recent teaching on this matter.”
He cited a 2003 Vatican document, approved by St. John Paul II, which says, “The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.”
“Francesco” features interviews with Francis, his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, collaborators of the pope, as well as activists who have fought against some of the Vatican’s positions in recent years.
“The film tells the story of the pope by reversing the cameras,” said Vatican communications director Paolo Ruffini, who collaborated with Afineevsky on the film.