'They are children of God and they have rights', says Pope Francis
Pope Francis said in a film that opens in Italy on Wednesday (21) that homosexuals need to be protected by civil union laws. It was the clearest way Francis has ever spoken about LGBTI rights.
"Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are daughters of God and have the right to a family. No one should be discarded or unhappy because of this”, he says in the documentary “Francesco”.
The Pope's speech appears halfway through the film. He talks about topics he cares about, such as the environment, poverty, migration, racial and income inequality and people most affected by discrimination.
Civil union, not marriage
Pope Francis has already demonstrated his interest in dialoguing with LGBTI Catholics, but generally his messages are about welcoming these faithful.
He has already given veiled signals that could be interpreted as an opinion in favor of civil unions.
When Cristina Kirchner was president of Argentina, the country legalized gay marriage. At the time, he was not yet the pope, but rather Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
According to a 2014 text from the agency “Religion News Service” (RNS), Bergoglio even said that he was open to accepting civil unions as an alternative to same-gender marriage.
Domingues also points out that the pope was more explicit now when talking about “being part of a family”. “This is important,” he highlights.
In 2014, Pope Francis gave an interview to the newspaper “Corriere della Sera” in which he said that the Church teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman. According to the RNS agency, he said he understands that governments want to adopt civil unions for gay couples for economic reasons.
According to “Corriere della Sera”, the pope said that “it is necessary to consider different cases and evaluate each case in particular”.
O Vatican then clarified that Francis was speaking in a generic way and that people should not interpret the pope's words beyond what they say, according to RNS.
Watch the official trailer
Documentary premiere
The film was shown at Rome Festival this Wednesday. On Sunday (25), it should be shown in the USA for the first time during the Savannah Film Festival.
Director Evgeny Afineevsky finished recording in June 2020. The film talks about topics such as the pandemic, racism and sexual abuse. There are geopolitical themes too, such as the war in Syria and Ukraine.
According to the Argentinian newspaper "La Nación," the film depicts a gay Italian man living in Rome. He has three children and recounts how he once wrote to the Pope asking to send his children to the parish, but expressed concern that they would face discrimination.
The man claims that Pope Francis encouraged him to send his children to Church and never said what his opinion was about a family formed by gay parents and that, although the doctrine has not changed, the way of dealing with the issue has changed. radically.
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