THE VATAICAN (NBC) — Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature film “Francesco”.
The film covers issues Pope Francis cares most about: the environment, migration, poverty, racial and income inequality and people most affected by discrimination.
During one of his sit-down interviews for the documentary, the pope said “homosexual people have the right to have a family. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”
Director Evgeny Afineevsky said, “And I think for me, specifically in these days, I think of him as a man of pro-life on a global scale. Because any issue that you see in this movie is specifically him caring about humanity without putting frame or label or you are Muslim or I am a Jewish or you are a Catholic, okay I will help you. No, he don’t have labels.”
Activist Juan Carlos Cruz said, “I have seen him almost cry with the stories I tell him about and letters I bring him about people who have been abused and he is a man of action and he suffers. I have never seen someone take it so seriously.”
While serving as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of civil unions as pope.
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