WelCom November 2020
Pope Francis expresses support for the creation of civil union laws for same-sex couples in a new documentary about his seven-year papacy.
In the film, Francesco, he says: ‘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. What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that.’
The question of civil unions comes up in the film in a segment that features Andrea Rubera, a gay Italian man who was able to participate in one of the Pope’s daily Masses in the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence.
Rubera says that he gave Francis a letter that explained conversations he and his partner were having over whether to take their children to church, fearing they might be subject to unfair judgment as children of a gay couple.
Rubera says the Pope later called him, and encouraged them to take their children to church and to be honest with the pastor about their living situation.
The Pope has previously spoken in favour of civil unions, saying they are a way to protect the legal rights of persons in same-sex relationships.
In the past the Church has opposed legal recognition of same-sex unions. In 2003, a Vatican document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith set out why it was ‘necessary to oppose legal recognition of homosexual unions’ because they ‘obscure certain basic moral values and cause a devaluation of the institution of marriage’.
Francesco tells the story of Pope Francis’ papacy over the past seven and a half years, covering many of the trips he made before the Covid-19 pandemic and his handling of the sexual abuse scandals that have engulfed the Church.
It also focuses on issues that Pope Francis has made the hallmarks of his papacy, including the environment, poverty, migration and inequality.
Sources: The Guardian, The National Catholic Reporter