Walking with freedom: Francis' support for same-sex civil unions
The Pope with gay and lesbian Catholics from the UK at the Vatican on Ash Wednesday 2019
As our Rome correspondent writes, Pope Francis’ declaration of support for same-sex civil unions will go down as one of the landmark moments of his papacy
As many have pointed out, in one sense, what happened last week
changes very little; in another, it changes everything. Francis has
again reminded us that he is a “disruptor Pope”, prepared to break more
than a few plates to communicate the gospel message of compassion and
respect for every human person.
His words created a global
media firestorm. He won plaudits from voices ranging from António
Guterres, the United Nations’ Secretary General, to Ellen DeGeneres, the
American talk-show host who married actress Portia de Rossi in 2008.
DeGeneres tweeted, “Thank you, Pope Francis, for seeing love for what it
is.” But he is facing harsh criticism from some voices inside the
Church. Perhaps inevitably, Cardinal Raymond Burke is leading the way,
accusing the Pope of sowing “confusion”.
In fact, the Pope’s
words are unambiguous. He is making a decisive break with attitudes of
the past, including the 2003 document from the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith that not only condemned the legal recognition of
same-sex unions but declared that “clear and emphatic opposition is a
duty”. That document was signed by the prefect of the CDF, Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger. Two years later, he was elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Despite the kerfuffle, the Pope’s remarks should not have come as a surprise. In 2010, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio advocated “civil unions” for same-sex couples. Since his election, he has, more than once, indicated that he supports legal protections for same-sex couples. The bombshell comes halfway through Francesco, a documentary film directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, in a clip originally from a 2019 interview made for a Mexican television channel but never broadcast (see View from Rome, page 27).
The Oscar-nominated Russian-born Jewish director’s film focuses on the Pope’s ministry to those on the margins, and it’s within that context that it turns to the Pope’s attitude to gay people. Francis explains that “homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family”, as they are “children of God”. Both things he has said before. He then goes on: “What we have to have is a civil union law – that way, they are legally covered. I supported that.”
Homosexuality is illegal in 70 countries and punishable by death in at least six. Church leaders have not always been unequivocal in defending LGBT people against discrimination and violence. The Pope is not changing doctrine – he has not, as one headline this week had it, “blessed gay weddings” – nor is he making beliefs about the civil recognition of same-sex unions a matter of infallible church teaching, any more than Benedict XVI did. But Francis’ endorsement of legal protection for those in same-sex partnerships is a powerful declaration that the Church defends the rights and dignity of gays and lesbians, particularly in countries where those rights are a life-or-death matter.
Other Church leaders have taken the same position. In 2011, after the
UK government announced plans to legislate for same-sex marriage,
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the president of the bishops’ conference of
England and Wales, argued against the proposed legislation on the
grounds that civil partnerships offered gay couples legal protections.
He came under heavy criticism from inside the Church as a result. The
problem for Westminster, as it had been for Buenos Aires, was the
existence of that 2003 Vatican document from the CDF. Francis has shown
that a new approach is now possible. It is a reminder that when it comes
to questions of pastoral prudence, it is the decisions of local
Churches which hold sway.
While his remarks were informal and
unscripted, and do not change the Church’s teaching on marriage, they
herald a significant change. Throughout his pontificate, the Jesuit Pope
has sought to shift the tone, emphasis and language of the Church when
it comes to gays and lesbians. The Pope explained his approach to
journalists during a press conference on the flight returning to Rome
after his visit to Azerbaijan in 2016. “Individuals have to be
accompanied, as Jesus accompanies them,” he said. “Jesus certainly does
not say: ‘Go away because you are homosexual.’”
When the Pope
talks about the most serious sins, the words pride, corruption and
neglect for the poor come up. Rarely does he mention sex. He is the Pope
who replied, when asked about a gay priest – in one of the defining
quotations of his papapcy – “Who am I to judge?” He brought the gay
British comedian Stephen Amos to tears when he told him: “It does not
matter who you are, or how you live your life – you do not lose your
dignity.”
The new documentary also features the story of Andrea
Rubera, a gay man who with his partner has adopted three children.
Rubera wrote a letter to the Pope explaining that he wanted to bring up
his children as Catholics, but was worried. Francis picked up the
telephone. Rubera’s letter was “beautiful”, he told him, encouraging him
to introduce his children to the parish – but to be ready for
opposition.
Attitudes inside the Church have changed in recent decades. The
majority of lay Catholics in Europe and North America are welcoming to
same-sex couples. For some, the Pope has taken a step in the right
direction, but has not gone far enough. While the Catechism says gay
people must be treated with “respect, compassion and sensitivity”, it
still describes the homosexual orientation as “objectively disordered”;
they would like to see that changed. But many bishops and priests remain
wary or nervous on the topic, and some are hostile to any move that
might be interpreted as a softening of the Church’s teaching that
homosexual acts are sinful.
What Francis has done is lay the
foundations for reform. The tone of the conversation has been
transformed: crucially, when he talks about the issue, he refuses to be
governed by fear. He showed this when he made a personal telephone call
to James Alison, the openly gay English priest and writer, which
squashed an attempt by some in the Vatican to remove Alison from the
priesthood. As Fr Alison explained last year to The Tablet, the Pope
told him: “I want you to walk with deep interior freedom, following the
spirit of Jesus. And I give you the power of the keys. Do you
understand? I give you the power of the keys.”
The Pope has also decided to walk in that freedom, and in that spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment