“Homosexuals are children of God and have a right to a family,” Pope Francis said in one of the interviews in a documentary, the pontiff called for a civil union law.
ROME, Italy-Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil union laws for the first time since becoming the leader of the Catholic church. He said this while being interviewed for the documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday.
The interview premiered at the Rome Film Festival.
In the documentary, the Pope urged a “civil union law” that would allow LGBT+ people to “be in a family.” because they are also children of God.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the Pope endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favour of civil unions as pope.
He added that “nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it.”
In the documentary, The Pontiff, one of the main characters is Juan Carlos Cruz, the Chilean survivor of clergy sexual abuse whom Francis initially disgraced during a 2018 visit to Chile.
Cruz, a gay, said that during his first meetings with the pope in May 2018, Francis assured him that God made him (Cruz) gay.
He tells his own story in bits throughout the film.
The film director
The film was directed by filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky, a Russian-born US national of Jewish background. In addition to the pope, it also features other senior clergymen.
“The main thread of this movie is more about us as human beings. We create disasters every day. And he [the pope] is the one who is connecting us through these threads,” Afineevsky said in an interview.
Pope’s endorsement has received mixed reactions from all over the world. One, Rev. James Martin, praised the pope’s 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.
This is likely to imply that other regions across the world should consider the possibility of following suit.
The Catholic Church victimized gay people during large parts of its history. Majorly, it still views homosexuality as sinful.
