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<p><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-francis-calls-for-civil-union-law-for-same-sex-couples/">https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-francis-calls-for-civil-union-law-for-same-sex-couples/</a></p><p>In a documentary that premiered Wednesday in Rome, <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">Pope Francis
</span>called for the passage of civil union laws for same-sex couples,
departing from </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the position of the Vatican’s doctrinal office and<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> the
pope’</span>s predecessors </b></span>on the issue.</p><p>The remarks came amid a portion of the documentary that reflected on pastoral care for those who identify as LGBT.</p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“Homosexuals
have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and
have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made
miserable because of it,”</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>Pope Francis </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>said in the film,</b></span> of his approach
to pastoral care.</p><p>After those remarks, and in comments likely to
spark controversy among Catholics, Pope Francis weighed in directly on
the issue of civil unions for same-sex couples.</p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered</b></span>,<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>” the pope</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>said. “I stood up for that.”</b></span></p><p>The
remarks come in “Francesco,” a documentary on the life and ministry of
Pope Francis which premiered Oct. 21 as part of the Rome Film Festival,
and is set to make its North American premiere on Sunday.</p><p>The film
chronicles the approach of Pope Francis to pressing social issues, and
to pastoral ministry among those who live, in the words of the pontiff,
“on the existential peripheries.”</p><p>Featuring interviews with
Vatican figures including Cardinal Luis Tagle and other collaborators of
the pope, <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">“Francesco” looks at the pope’s advocacy for migrants and
refugees, the poor, his work on the issue of clerical sexual abuse, the
role of women in society, and the disposition of Catholics and others
toward those who identify as LGBT.</span></p><p>The film addresses the pastoral
outreach of Pope Francis to those who identify as LGBT, including <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>a
story of <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the pontiff </span>encouraging two Italian men in a same-sex
relationship to raise their <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">children</span> in their <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">parish church</span>, which, one
of the men said, was greatly beneficial to his <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">children</span>.</b></span></p><p>“He
didn’t mention what was his opinion on my family. Probably he’s
following the doctrine on this point,” the man said, while praising the
pope for a disposition and attitude of welcome and encouragement.</p><p>The
pope’s remarks on civil unions come amid that part of the documentary.
Filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky told CNA that <span style="background-color:rgb(207,226,243)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the pope</span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">made his call for
civil unions</span> during an interview the documentarian conducted with <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">the
pope</span>.</b></span></p><p>The pope’s<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> direct call for civil union laws represents a
shift from</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the perspective of his predecessors, and</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> from</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>his own more
circumspect positions</b></span> on civil unions i<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">n the past.</span></p><p><u><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>In 2010</b></span></u>, <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"><b>while
he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Pope Francis</b></span><u><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> opposed</b></span></u><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> efforts to
legalize same-sex marriage.</b></span> While Sergio Rubin, the future pope’s
biographer, suggested that Francis supported the idea of civil unions as
a way to prevent the wholesale adoption of same-sex marriage in
Argentina, Miguel Woites, director of the Argentinian Catholic news
outlet AICA, dismissed in 2013 that claim as false.</p><p>But the pope’s
mention of having previously “stood up” for civil unions seems to
confirm the reports of Rubin and others who said that then-Cardinal
Bergoglio supported privately the idea of civil unions as a compromise
in Argentina.</p><p>In the 2013 book “On Heaven and Earth,” Pope Francis
did not reject the possibility of civil unions outright, but did say
that laws “assimilating” homosexual relationships to marriage are “an
anthropological regression,” and he expressed concern that if same-sex
couples “are given adoption rights, there could be affected children.
Every person needs a male father and a female mother that can help them
shape their identity.”</p><p>In 2014, Fr. Thomas Rosica, who was then
working in the Holy See’s press office told CNA that Pope Francis had
not expressed support for same-sex civil unions, after some journalists
reported that he had done so in an an interview that year. While a civil
unions proposal was debated in Italy, Rosica emphasized that Francis
would not weigh in on the debate, but would emphasize Catholic teaching
on marriage.</p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>In 2003, under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph
Ratzinger and at the direction of Pope John Paul II, the Vatican’s
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith taught that “respect for
<span style="background-color:rgb(246,178,107)">homosexual </span>persons cannot<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> lead in <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)">any</span> way to approval of homosexual
behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions.</span> The common good
requires that <span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)">laws</span> recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis
of the family, the primary unit of society.”</b></span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><b>“Legal recognition of
homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> </span></b></span></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>marriage</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>would
mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of
making it a model in present-day<span style="background-color:rgb(217,234,211)"> society</span>, but would also obscure</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> <b>basic
values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity.</b><b> The Church
cannot <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">fail to </span>defend these values, for the good of men and women and
for the good of society itself,” the CDF added, calling<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> support for such
unions from politicians “gravely immoral.”</span></b></span></p><p>“Not even in a remote
analogous sense do homosexual unions fulfil the purpose for which
marriage and family deserve specific categorical recognition. On the
contrary, there are good reasons for holding that such unions are
harmful to the proper development of human society, especially if their
impact on society were to increase,” the document said.</p><p>The Vatican’s press office did not respond to questions from CNA on the pope’s remarks in the film.</p><p>While
bishops in some countries have not opposed same-sex civil unions
proposals, and tried instead to distinguish them from civil marriage,
opponents of civil unions have long warned that they serve as a
legislative and cultural bridge to same-sex marraige initiatives, give
tacit approval to immorality, and fail to protect the rights of children
to be parented by both a mother and father.</p><p>Afineevsky told EWTN
News this month that he tried in “Francesco” to present the pope as he
saw him, and that the film might not please all Catholics. He told CNA
Wednesday that in his view, the film is not “about” the pope’s call for
civil unions, but “about many other global issues.”</p><p>“I’m looking
at him not as the pope, I’m looking at him as a humble human being,
great role model to younger generation, leader for the older generation,
a leader to many people not in the sense of the Catholic Church, but in
the sense of pure leadership, on the ground, on the
streets,” Afineevsky added.</p><p>The documentarian said he began
working with the Vatican to produce a film on Pope Francis in 2018, and
was given unprecedented access to Pope Francis until filming completed
in June, amid Italy’s coronavirus lockdowns.</p><p>Afineevsky, a
Russian-born filmmaker living in the U.S., was in 2015 nominated for
both an Academy Award and an Emmy Award for his work “Winter on Fire,” a
documentary that chronicled Ukraine’s 2013 and 2014 Euromaidan
protests. His 2017 film “Cries from Syria” was nominated for four News
and Documentary Emmy Awards and three Critics’ Choice Awards.</p><p>On
Thursday, Afineevsky will be presented in the Vatican Gardens with the
prestigious Kineo Movie for Humanity Award, which recognizes filmmakers
who present social and humanitarian issues through filmmaking. The award
was established in 2002 by the Italian Ministry of Culture.</p><p>Rosetta
Sannelli, the creator of the Kineo Awards, noted that “every trip of
Pope Francis to various parts of the world is documented in Afineevsky’s
work, in images and news footage, and reveals itself as an authentic
glimpse into the events of our time, a historical work in all respects.”</p>
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