Thu 22 October 2020:
Catholic teaching holds that gays must be treated with dignity and respect but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered”
Pope Francis has made his most explicit endorsement of same-sex partnerships since becoming the leader of the Catholic Church. The remarks are shown in a new documentary that premiered on Wednesday.
In the film, the pontiff urged a “civil union law” that would allow LGBT+ people to “be in a family.”
“They are children of God and have a right to a family,” he said in the documentary “Francesco” which premiered at the Rome Film Festival.
“Homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it,” the pontiff said, as he reflected on pastoral care for those who identify as LGBTQ.
“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that,” he said.
The documentary on the life and ministry of Pope Francis was presented at the Rome Film Festival, and is set to make its North American premiere on Sunday.
The film chronicles the pope’s approach to pressing social issues, and in the words of the pontiff, those living “on the existential peripheries”.
Reverand James Martin, a Jesuit who has sought to build bridges with gays in the church, praised the comments as “a major step forward in the church’s support for LGBT people”.
“The pope’s speaking positively about civil unions also sends a strong message to places where the church has opposed such laws,” Martin said in a statement.
Pope Francis’s support for same-sex civil unions is a major step forward in the church’s support of LGBTQ people. It is in keeping with his pastoral approach to LGBT people, including LGBT Catholics, and sends a strong signal to countries where the church has opposed such laws.
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) October 21, 2020
However, conservative Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, called for clarification. “The pope’s statement clearly contradicts what has been the long-standing teaching of the church about same-sex unions,” he said in a statement.
“The church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships.”
Doing so, the Vatican reasoned, would not only condone “deviant behaviour” but create an equivalence to marriage, which the church holds is an indissoluble union between man and woman.
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