Some statements, contained in the documentary “Francesco” by the director Evgeny Afineevsky, elicited, in these past days, diverse reactions and interpretations. Therefore, here are some useful points in order to bring about, at his request, an adequate understanding of the words of the Holy Father.
More than a year ago, in an interview, Pope Francis responded to two distinct questions in two diverse moments that, in the aforementioned documentary, were edited and published as one answer without the proper contextualization which generated confusion. The Holy Father has made in the first place a pastoral reference regarding the necessity of not discriminating within the family a son or a daughter because of his or her homosexual orientation. This is referred to in the following words: “Homosexuals have the right to be in a family; they are children of God who have a right to belong to a family. No one should be thrown out of a family nor someone’s life rendered difficult (or impossible) because of this (i.e. homosexual orientation)”.
The following citation in the Post-Synodal Exhortation on love in the family Amoris laetitia (2016) can clarify such expressions: “With the Synodal Fathers I have taken into consideration the situation of families who live the experience of having a member with homosexual tendency; an experience which is not easy neither for the parents nor for the children. We would like therefore to reaffirm that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be respected in his or her dignity and accepted with respect, taking care of avoiding “every trace of discrimination” and particularly every form of aggression and violence. These families should instead be assured of a respectful guidance, so that those who manifest homosexual tendency may avail of the necessary help to understand and fully realize the will of God in their lives”. (n. 250)
A subsequent question in the interview was instead in reference to a local legislation ten years ago in Argentina on “matrimonies igualitarios (egalitarian marriages) of couples of the same sex” and the opposition of the former Archbishop of Buenos Aires on that regard. On this matter Pope Francis affirmed that “it is incongruent to speak of homosexual marriage”, stating further that, in such particular context, he spoke (instead) of the right of these persons to have legal protection: “that which we must do is a law of civil union (convivencia civil); they have the right to be legally protected. I defended this matter”.
The Holy Father articulated in an interview of 2014: “Marriage is between a man and a woman. The secular States would like to justify civil unions to regulate various situations of convivence, forced by the necessity to regulate economic matters between persons, for example to guarantee health insurance. It deals with agreements of convivence of different kinds, of which I cannot list its varied forms. It is necessary to see the various cases and evaluate them in their diversity.
It is therefore evident that Pope Francis was referring to particular State provisions, not definitely in reference to the doctrine of the Church, reaffirmed numerous times over the years.
