Despite the recent shock caused by the pope's words on same-sex civil unions, the Vatican has not yet contextualized or commented on his words.
The director of the documentary claims to have interviewed Pope Francis, but the remarks are from a May 2019 interview with a Latin American television station. The only one who has commented is Antonio Spadaro, one of the pope’s unofficial collaborators in the field of communications.
ANTONIO SPADARO
“In the documentary, there are parts of the interview he gave to Valentina Alazraki, a Mexican journalist. In that dialogue, the pope speaks of a right to legal protection for same-sex couples that does not conflict with Church doctrine. In another part of the documentary, it is explicitly stated that Pope Francis does not intend to make changes to the doctrine, even if, at the same time, he shows himself to be open to the demands of people’s everyday lives.”
If the statements originate from the May 2019 interview, the pope was referring to the situation of rejected gay individuals within their own family, something he had commented on on the papal plane.
POPE FRANCIS
“We must accompany people as Jesus would. When this type of person comes before Jesus, He will never answer, ‘Leave because you are a homosexual!’, no.”
In the second part, the pope was referring to his position regarding gay marriage as president of the bishops of Argentina. In this case, the pope said that marriage is not acceptable. He did however, support extending legal protection of same-sex couples' rights.
Javier Romero
Translation: Christian Campos
