The news has been alight with praise for Pope Francis as a documentary revealed his support for gay couples to have their own families.
In a film that premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday, “Francesco” by Evgeny Afineevsky, the pope is seen supporting gay couples’ rights to enter into legally recognised civil unions.
Huge and welcome news form the Vatican. Pope Francis says, “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God”. As someone who grew up in the Catholic Church, I’m not sure I ever thought I’d see the day. 🌈 👏 https://t.co/nuvi80QVy7
— Cordelia Lynch (@CordeliaSkyNews) October 21, 2020
“These are children of God, they have the right to a family,” Pope Francis says in the film.
“What we have to create is a law of civil union, they have the right to be legally protected. I have defended that.”
Obviously, it’s great that gay couples are being supported publicly like this. In the past, Pope Francis has been similarly against discrimination of gay people, famously saying “who am I to judge?” as he welcomes gay people to the Vatican.
Not to be lost in this story: Pope Francis also condemns the Trump administration’s child separation policy: “It’s cruelty, and separating kids from parents goes against natural rights,” he says. https://t.co/SHWZ4TPINM
— Michael J. O’Loughlin (@MikeOLoughlin) October 21, 2020
He also has previously encouraged the inclusion and acceptance of gay people in their parishes and urged parents not to reject their gay children.
However, I think people are forgetting that while Francis does not discriminate against gay people personally, he still voices opposition to gay marriage, which he maintains should only be between a man and woman.
“‘Marriage’ is a historic word,” he’s quoted by French sociologist Dominique Wolton in a 2017 book of interviews.
“Always among human beings, and not only in the Church, it has been between a man and a woman. You can’t just change that like that.”
Undoubtedly, there are plenty of religious followers who may change their homophobic attitude towards gay people because of the pope’s encouraging words, but let’s not forget there is still quite an arduous road ahead for the liberation and full acceptance of gay people, and that it doesn’t end at endorsement of civil liberties for gays from the pope.
Congratulations to Pope Francis and the Catholic Church!
Welcome to the 1990s! 🙄 🏳️🌈 https://t.co/GNZJXH9OnF— Q. Allan Brocka (@allanbrocka) October 21, 2020
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