Pope Francis discusses civil unions, divorce, Humanae Vitae in new wide-ranging interview
ROME, March 5, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Does Pope Francis support civil unions for same-sex couples? That question has dogged his pontificate ever since disputed rumors emerged last year that while serving as an archbishop in Argentina he had proposed civil unions as a compromise to the country’s then-proposed same-sex “marriage” law. Now, in a new wide-ranging interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Serra, published to mark the one-year anniversary of his pontificate, Pope Francis was given a chance to clarify his position, although his carefully guarded answer is likely only to fuel further speculation. Catholic News Agency has provided an English translation. Asked whether the Catholic Church can “understand” the path taken by some countries of creating “civil unions," the pope responded that, “Marriage is between a man and a woman.” However, he added, “Secular states want to justify civil unions to regulate different situations of cohabitation, pushed by the demand to regulate economic aspects between persons, such as ensuring health care. It is about pacts of cohabitating of various natures, of which I wouldn’t know how to list the different ways.” As to how to judge such proposals, the pope would only say, “One needs to see the different cases and evaluate them in their variety.”
Claims that the pope supports civil unions received widespread attention shortly after his election, when the New York Timespublished an article quoting Cardinal Bergoglio’s authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin, who said that the pope had supported such unions behind the scenes in Argentina. That claim was subsequently disputed by a confidante of Bergoglio’s, Miguel Woite, the director of the Argentinean Catholic Information Agency (ACIA). The story "isn't true. It's a complete error," Woite said. In the Corriere della Serra interview, the pontiff also addressed several other hot-button topics, including contraception and divorce. In response to a question about Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which famously reiterated the Catholic Church’s long-standing opposition to artificial birth control, the pope hailed the encyclical as “prophetic” and praised Paul VI’s “genius.”
Paul VI “had the courage to place himself against the majority, defending the moral discipline, exercising a culture brake, opposing present and future neo-Malthusianism,” said Pope Francis.
