A clip from the documentary Francesco showing Pope Francis supporting the implementation of civil union laws for homosexual couples has sent shockwaves across the world. In the film, he remarks, “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” adding, “What we have to have is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.”
It has long been believed that Pope Francis supports gay rights, at least at some level. In fact, in 2013, he said to a reporter, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
Likewise, in a papal exhortation in 2016, he said, “every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence.”
Pope Francis has also ministered to homosexual and transsexual prostitutes, and brought gay couples into his ‘inner circle’, illustrating his progressive side.
He has, however, thus far refrained from endorsing gay marriage. In 2010, when he was still the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he backed civil unions for gay couples but said that a recent gay marriage bill that was passed into law was a “destructive attack on God’s plan.” He is also reported to be firmly against adoption by homosexual individuals.
It is unclear whether he has since adjusted his stance, but this clip does seem to contravene principles that are enshrined in the Vatican. For instance, a 2003 document from the Vatican says that the church’s ‘respect’ for homosexuals cannot be misconstrued as an “approval of homosexual behavior or to legal recognition of homosexual unions”, as this would “condone deviant behavior.”
At the same time, the church reasoned that this would dilute the definition of marriage, which the church believes is an act of union between a man and a woman. The document was co-signed by Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The last Pope in fact described homosexuality as “an intrinsic moral evil.”
The Pope’s comments have been met with both confusion and consternation in some conservative and religious circles. For instance, in the US, Bishop Thomas Tobin from Providence, Rhode Island released a statement saying, “The Church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships.” He went on to say, “Individuals with same-sex attraction are beloved children of God and must have their personal human rights and civil rights recognized and protected by law. However, the legalization of their civil unions, which seek to simulate holy matrimony, is not admissible.”
Likewise, the director of pubic policy for the Archdiocese of New York, Ed Mechmann, wrote that “we have to recognize that the Holy Father has plainly erred,” adding that “Catholics cannot promote the legalization of same-sex unions.”
Furthermore, in the Philippines, former Bishop Arturo Bastes expressed his “very serious doubts about the moral correctness” of the Pope’s stance, calling his statement “shocking”, and saying, “I am really scandalized by his defense of homosexual union, which surely leads to immoral acts.”
One of the Pope’s communications advisors, Rev. Antonio Spadaro, has sought to engender calm; he said that the clip is from 2019 and don’t represent a drastic shift in the Pope’s views but simply a reiteration of what he has already said on several occasions.
Pope Extends Support for Same-Sex Civil Unions, Draw Ire of Conservatives Across the Globe
The Pope’s position appears to contravene principles that are enshrined in the Vatican.
October 23, 2020
IMAGE SOURCE: GRZEGORZ GALAZKA / MONDADORI PORTFOLIO VIA GETTY IMAGES FILEPope Francis (right)