Greetings! I want to take this opportunity to respond to the reactions to Pope Francis' interview in the documentary 'Francesco' by filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky. In the interview, Pope Francis indicated support for 'civil unions,' i.e. legal protections for people who live together in domestic relationships (same-sex or otherwise).

​The uproar is over the following sentences spoken by Pope Francis in a television interview. He said:

“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.” The second statement was, “What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that.”

​Some people claim Pope Francis has contradicted the teaching of the Church about marriage and sexuality. Others, especially the secular media, have construed the pope's words as some kind of earthquake in Church doctrine. British tabloids and other newspapers ran headlines, 'Pope Blesses Gay Weddings.'

​In these statements, Pope Francis proposes a pastoral and societal approach towards family members and homosexual partners. He's not saying the Church supports same-sex marriage or that civil unions are in any way comparable to marriage. The Pope has called legalizing same-sex marriage a move by the father of lies. Also, the full transcript of this part of the interview makes clear he does not approve of homosexual acts in the least. Rather, he's thinking of ways to secure certain legitimate human rights of persons in domestic partnerships, homosexual or otherwise.

​An official statement by Archibishop Paul Etienne of Seattle is helpful:

"I know from prior statements and writings that Pope Francis has expressed his care and concern for people who have same-sex attraction. Here are important facts to keep in mind: When the Holy Father speaks or teaches, he's almost always speaking to the Universal Church. The United States already recognizes civil unions of same-sex couples, who are able to receive all the legal protections which that guarantees. However, in many other parts of the world, people with same-sex attraction face considerable oppression, including in some countries, death. Similarly, and this is very important, Pope Francis continues to strongly support the teaching of the Church that marriage is between a man and a woman and is a permanent union. He has no problem making the necessary distinction between the two realities of civil unions and marriage. His focus on civil unions is more about public policy than church teaching.”

​The pope's first statement, that homosexual persons 'have a right to be part of the family,' shouldn't be all that controversial. He addressed the question of how parents should treat homosexual children on the flight back to Rome from the World Meeting of Families in August 2018. He said:

“To ignore a son or daughter with a homosexual tendency is not good parenthood. You are my son, you are my daughter, just as you are. I am your father or your mother, let’s talk about this. And if you, as a father or mother, can’t deal with this on your own, ask for help, but always in dialogue, always in dialogue. Because that son and daughter has a right to family, and their family is this family, just as it is. Do not throw them out of family."

​Francis teaches us that shunning our children is not the Christian way. The doors and hearts of parents should always be open for your children, even if they are different than you’d like them to be. Our Father in heaven is our model for this. He loves us, runs toward us even when we try to run from him, forgives us, and welcomes us with open arms. The issue of how we should treat family members who aren't living out the Catholic faith is what's called a 'prudential' matter, not a doctrinal question. Pope Frances isn't changing any doctrine here.

​Regarding his second sentence, Pope Francis already showed an openness to 'civil unions' while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, as an assurance of legal protections to homosexual persons. In his 2015 biography of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer, author Austen Ivereigh wrote about then-Cardinal Bergoglio’s position in favor of civil unions (but rejection of same-sex marriage):

“He knew many gay people and had spiritually accompanied a number of them. He knew their stories of rejection by their families and what it was like to live in fear of being singled out and beaten up. He told a Catholic gay activist, a former theology professor named Marcelo Márquez, that he favored gay rights as well as legal recognition for civil unions, which gay couples could also access. But he was utterly opposed to any attempt to redefine marriage in law. ‘He wanted to defend marriage but without wounding anybody’s dignity or reinforcing their exclusion,’ says a close collaborator of the cardinal’s. ‘He favored the greatest possible legal inclusion of gay people and their human rights expressed in law, but would never compromise the uniqueness of marriage as being between a man and a woman for the good of children’” (p. 312).

​Pope Francis teaches us to treat people with dignity and love, without embracing ideas that contradict Catholic doctrine. The types of rights that accompany civil unions (e.g. health insurance, rights of inheritance, tax laws, the ability to visit a loved one in a hospital or nursing home), should not be contingent on whether that person lives a life in total conformity to Catholic moral doctrine.

​Pope Francis also does not see civil unions as necessarily sexual or romantic in nature. Nor does he envision they should be limited to persons of the same sex. Austen Ivereigh explains:

“Bergoglio had not raised strong objections to a 2002 civil unions law that applied only to Buenos Aires and that granted rights to any two people cohabiting for more than two years, independent of their gender or sexual orientation. He regarded it as a purely civic, legal arrangement that left marriage unaffected; it granted some privileges but not the right to adopt or any automatic right to inheritance."

​The current Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, has a reputation as a strident traditionalist, but he provided a strong defenses of Pope Francis’s interview. In an official statement, he explained the Church’s approach:

“In our regional bishops' meeting with Pope Francis last January, the topic of civil unions came up in conversation. The Holy Father clearly differentiated between a civil arrangement which accords mutual benefits to two people, and marriage. The former, he said, can in no way be equated to marriage, which remains unique. I would add that a civil union of this type (one which is not equated to marriage) should be as inclusive as possible, and not be restricted to two people of the same sex in a presumed sexual relationship. There is no reason, for example, why a brother and a sister, both of whom are unmarried and support each other, should not have access to these kinds of benefits. Marriage is unique because it is the only institution that connects children to their mothers and fathers, and therefore is presumed to be a sexual relationship. Indeed, the sexual relationship that marriage is presumed to involve is the only kind by which children are naturally made. The nature of marriage, the place of sex within a virtuous life, these great teachings of the Church come to us from God, are illuminated by reason, and do not change.”

​I encourage you to read the doctrinal justification for Pope Francis’s position by theologians Dawn Eden Goldstein, SThD, and Robert Fastiggi, PhD, published recently at the blog Where Peter Is. It clearly lays out why his statements are in alignment with Catholic doctrine.

​The words Pope Francis spoke were neither unprecedented nor inconsistent with what he's said in the past. Those who think this is a watershed moment or change in Church teaching on human sexuality are incorrect. Those who imagine Pope Francis has forsaken Catholic doctrine are also mistaken. Let's always stand with Peter as he leads us in the practice of our Catholic faith.

Father Ryan