Pope Francis became the first pontiff to endorse same-sex civil unions in an interview for an upcoming feature film documentary.
Pope Francis made headlines and shocked some of his own flock with his remarks on same-sex civil unions. The remarks came during an interview for a feature film documentary called Francesco.
“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said. “What we have to have is a civil union law, that way they are legally covered.”
News of Francis’s comments came after the film made its debut at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday.
In one respect, the comments should not come as a surprise. When Francis was archbishop of Buenos Aires, he supported legal protection for the rights of gay couples.
But he also opposed legislation to approve same-sex marriages.
That last detail is surely going to draw plenty of criticism. After all, same-sex couples don’t want civil unions. They want marriage, the same marriage opposite-sex couples have.
It’s the old separate but equal argument. I get it. I agree with it. In the grand scheme of things, a civil union is “less than” marriage, even when it provides the same protections.
But as I’ve surely said before: Ask any minority how long it took them to reach full equality. I’d be curious to know what they say, but I already know. There’s no such thing as full equality for any minority group.
At least, not so far.
The big takeaway for me is that the leader of the Catholic church just argued for acknowledging same-sex couples and treating them as if they value.
That in itself is tremendous.
Maybe it’s merely the latest step in a long line that still must be climbed before the day we’ll see everyone treated with respect.
