Pope says supports civil unions for gay couples
https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/world/pope-says-supports-civil-unions-for-gay-couples-2588470
Wednesday October 21 2020
By AFP News
Pope Francis defended the right of gay couples to enter into legally recognised civil unions in a documentary that premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday.
In the film, "Francesco" by Evgeny Afineevsky, the Argentine pope says that gays have "the right to be in a family."
"These are children of God, they have the right to a family," Francis says in the film, speaking in Spanish.
"What we have to create is a law of civil union, they have the right to be legally protected. I have defended that," said Francis.
But the former Jorge Bergoglio has always voiced opposition to gay marriage, saying that marriage should only be between a man and woman.
"Since the beginning of the pontificate the Pope has spoken of respect for homosexuals and has been against their discrimination," Vatican expert Vania de Luca told Rainews.
"The novelty today is that he defends as pope a law for civil unions."
No judgements
After becoming pope in 2013, Francis took an unprecedented welcoming tone towards homosexuals, launching his famous phrase, "Who am I to judge?" and welcoming gay couples to the Vatican on several occasions.
The two-hour documentary traces the seven years of his pontificate and his travels.
Among the most moving moments of the film is the Pope's phone call to a gay couple, parents of three young children, in response to a letter they sent him saying how ashamed they were to bring their children to the parish.
Francis invites them to continue to go to church regardless of the Judgments of others.
Chilean Juan Carlos Cruz, an activist against sexual abuse within the church, accompanied the director to the film screening on Wednesday.
"When I met Pope Francis he told me he was very sorry about what happened. Juan, it is God who made you gay and he loves you anyway. God loves you and the Pope loves you too," says Cruz in the film.
The Russian-born Afineevsky, who attended the Pope's general audience in the Vatican on Wednesday, was nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy in 2016 for "Winter of Fire" about the 2013-2014 protests in Ukraine.
In 2018 he received three Emmy nominations for "Cries from Syria" about that country's civil war.
Homosexuals ‘Have a Right to a Family’: ‘Francis’ Becomes First ‘Pope’ to Support Same-Sex Civil Unions
ROME — In a documentary released in Rome on Wednesday, Roman Catholic leader Jorge Bergoglio, also known as “Pope Francis,” says that he believes homosexuals have a “right to a family” and that he supports civil unions as a legal covering.
“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family,” he states in the movie “Francesco” by Evgeny Afineevsky, which premiered at the Rome Film Festival. “Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it.”
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered,” the Vatican head continues. “I stood up for that.”
According to the Catholic News Agency and Reuters, the documentary also tells the story of Bergoglio encouraging a man in a homosexual relationship to raise his three adopted children in a parish church. Andrea Rubera had given Bergoglio a letter after attending mass and received a phone call days later telling him that the correspondence was “beautiful.”
“He didn’t mention what was his opinion on my family. Probably he’s following the doctrine on this point, but the attitude towards people has massively changed,” Rubera states in the production.
“His message and his advice was really useful, because we did exactly what he told us. It’s the third year that [the children] are on a spiritual path in the parish,” he says.
According to reports, the documentary is not the first time that Bergoglio has expressed support for civil unions, although it is his first as “pope.” Formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio is said to have told others behind closed doors then that he is okay with the concept.
“He told me, … ‘I’m in favor of gay rights, and in any case, I also favor civil unions for homosexuals, but I believe that Argentina is not yet ready for a gay marriage law,'” Catholic homosexual rights activist Marcelo Marquez claims Bergoglio told him in a meeting in 2010.
As previously reported, in 2013, Bergoglio generated controversy after he said during a news conference that it is not his job to judge homosexual priests.
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” he stated. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well. It says they should not be marginalized because of this, but that they must be integrated into society.”
“The problem is not having this orientation. We must be brothers,” Bergoglio continued. “The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 2358, “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”
“These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.”
It also states that “[h]omosexual persons are called to chastity” and “[s]exuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman.”
