Pope Francis Declares Support for Same-Sex Unions
Pope Francis has declared his support for the civil unions of couples with the same sex in a historic moment via ‘Francesco’, a documentary film that is directed by Evgeny Afineevsky. It premiered this week on Wednesday, October 21st at the Rome Film Festival and will be premiering in North America this Sunday, October 25th at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival too.
In the documentary film, the Pope says, “Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it.” In fact, not only does he declare his open support in the film, he also calls for a law to be created for the legal protection and legality of the civil union of same-sex couples: “What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.” While he has never flat out declared his support, he has also never been against civil unions of same-sex couples when being interviewed.
This is the first time in at least modern history that a leader of the Christian Catholics has declared their support for same-sex couples in any way, whether insinuatorily or in so many words. Pope Francis’ declaration, in fact, directly clashes with the opinion of Pope Benedict XVI, his predecessor, who had labelled homosexuality as “an intrinsic moral evil”.
While this support opens opportunities for people who do not identify as binary, cisgendered persons, it also means that bishops across the globe would have to rethink their positions on the topic. According to CNN’s reporting on Jesuit Father James Martin, there are numerous bishops in several countries including the USA and Poland who are “violently against” same-sex civil unions, but he himself is an advocate of welcoming the LGBTQ community to the church.
The opinions of bishops across the world even go so far to claim that Pope Francis “has plainly erred” according to Ed Mechmann, Director Public Policy for the Archidiocese, New York, and that same-sex is “holy matrimony, is not admissible” according to Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island.
How do you feel about the Pope’s support for homosexual civil unions?
Credit: Francesco/Catholic News Agency
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