Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Plot thickens over origins of Francis’ nod to civil unions
VATICAN CITY — Questions swirled Thursday about the origins of Pope Francis’ bombshell comments endorsing same-sex civil unions, with all evidence suggesting he made them in a 2019 interview that was never broadcast in its entirety.
The Vatican refused to comment on whether it cut the remarks from its own broadcast or if the Mexican broadcaster that conducted the interview did. And it didn’t respond to questions about why it allowed the comments to be aired now in the documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday.
In the movie, which was shown at the Rome Film Festival, Francis said gay people have the right to be in a family since they are “children of God.”
“You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this,” the pope said. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”
Those comments caused a firestorm, thrilling progressives and alarming conservatives, given official Vatican teaching prohibits any such endorsement of homosexual unions.
While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis had endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of legal protections for civil unions as pope, and no pontiff before him had, either.
One of Francis’ top communications advisers, the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, insisted the pope’s comments were old news, saying they were made during a May 2019 interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa.
“There’s nothing new because it’s a part of that interview,” Spadaro told The Associated Press as he exited the premiere. “It seems strange that you don’t remember.”
But Televisa didn’t air those comments when it broadcast the interview — nor did the Vatican when it put out its recordings of it. The broadcaster has not commented on the intrigue.
The Vatican frequently edits the pope in official transcripts and videos, especially when he speaks on sensitive issues. Yet some version of the footage was apparently available in the Vatican archives, which were opened to filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky.
3 cities sue DOJ: New York, Portland and Seattle — three cities recently labeled “anarchist jurisdictions” by the U.S. Justice Department — filed a lawsuit Thursday to invalidate the designation and fight off the Trump administration’s efforts to withhold federal dollars.
“The Trump administration’s political threats against Seattle and other Democratic cities are unlawful and an abuse of federal power,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a news release announcing the federal lawsuit. “It’s immoral, unconstitutional, and shameful that we are forced to expend any resources on this political theater.”
President Donald Trump issued a memorandum last month that sought to identify localities that permit “anarchy, violence and destruction in American cities” following riots that took place during anti-police and anti-racism protests after George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police.
The Justice Department last month identified New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle as three cities that could have federal funding slashed.
The lawsuit ridiculed the designation, calling the president’s action “offensive to both the Constitution and common sense” and describing the notion of anarchist jurisdictions “an oxymoronic designation without precedent in American jurisprudence.”
But it also noted that the consequences of withholding federal money during a pandemic are “deadly serious.”
US-Mexico water: Mexico announced Thursday that it has reached a deal with the United States to pay the shortfall in its annual contribution of water from border-area rivers by giving the U.S. Mexico’s rights to water held in border dams that normally supply cities and towns downstream.
The agreement announced Thursday allows Mexico to meet the Oct. 24 deadline that, if missed, could have endangered a cross-border water sharing treaty that greatly benefits Mexico.
Mexican officials has also worried the water debt could have become an issue in the upcoming U.S. elections.
The deal transfers Mexico’s share of water held in the Amistad and Falcon dams to U.S. ownership. The amount of water transferred is enormous: 170 million cubic yards, or enough water to flood 105,000 acres with a foot of water.
Nigerian unrest: President Muhammadu Buhari spoke to the nation about the unrest that has gripped the country in recent days, but without making any mention of the shootings of peaceful protesters at Lekki toll plaza Tuesday night that prompted international outrage.
The military opened fire without warning on thousands of peaceful protesters singing the national anthem Tuesday night, killing at least 12 people, according to Amnesty International.
The shootings have been widely condemned, but Buhari did not speak of them at all during his Thursday address, instead urging protesters to stop their demonstrations.
Tropical weather: Hurricane Epsilon’s maximum sustained winds dropped Thursday as it moved northwest over the Atlantic Ocean on a path expected to skirt just east of Bermuda
Epsilon’s maximum sustained winds decreased by Thursday afternoon to 85 mph, dropping it from a Category 2 storm to a Category 1 as it swirled near enough for the National Hurricane Center to issue a tropical storm warning for the island.
The Miami-based center said Epsilon was located about 200 miles east-southeast of Bermuda and moving to the north-northwest at 9 mph.
Forecasters said Epsilon could produce tropical storm conditions around the island overnight. Gradual weakening was expected into the weekend.
Lebanon change: The president tasked former Prime Minister Saad Hariri with forming a new government Thursday, bringing back a politician a year after he was toppled amid nationwide protests against widespread corruption and a flunking economy.
President Michel Aoun designated Hariri after a slight majority vote by lawmakers, securing the return of an old name to lead the country desperate for change.
Hariri now faces a more impoverished Lebanon, devastated by a massive August explosion that defaced Beirut, but also a more determined opposition.