Pope Francis Opens Door To Same Séx Unions?

Pope Francis reaffirmed the Catholic Church's
opposition to gay marriage on Wednesday, but
suggested in a newspaper chat that it could support
some types of civil unions. The Pope reiterated the
church's teaching that "marriage is between a man
and a woman." However, he said, "We have to look at
different cases and evaluate them in their variety."
States, for instance, justify civil unions as a way to
provide financial security to cohabitating couples, the
Pope said in a wide-ranging interview published
Wednesday in an Italian daily. State-sanctioned
unions are thus driven by the need to ensure rights
like access to health care, Francis added.
A number of Catholic Bishops have supported civil
unions for same-sex couples, including Pope Francis
when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2010,
according to reports in National Catholic Reporter and
The New York Times.
Behind closed doors, pope supported civil unions in
Argentina, activist says...
But Wednesday's comments are "the first time a Pope
has indicated even tentative acceptance of civil
unions," according to Catholic News Service.
Pope Francis, who marks his first year in office on
March 13, has sought to set a more tolerant tone for
his 1 billion-member church and suggested that a
broad range of topics are at least open for
discussion.
Last January, Pope Francis recalled a little girl in
Buenos Aires who told her teacher that she was sad
because "my mother's girlfriend doesn't like me."
"The situation in which we live now provides us with
new challenges which sometimes are difficult for us
to understand," the Pope told leaders of religious
orders, adding that the church "must be careful not to
administer a vaccine against faith to them."
The Vatican later denied that those comments
signaled an opening toward same-séx unions.
Last June, Pope Francis famously refused to judge
gay priests in comments that ricocheted around the
world. He has also said that the church should not
"interfere" in the spiritual lives of gays and lesbians.
In this latest interview, Francis also addressed several
other controversial issues, including the Catholic
Church's ban on contraception, the role of women
and the devastating clergy séxual abuse scandal.
On contraception, the Pope praised Pope Paul VI for
having the "courage" to "go against the majority"
when restating the ban in 1968. But he added, the
church must be "merciful" and "attentive to concrete
situations."
Contraception and church's ban on divorced
Catholics receiving holy communion, will likely be
addressed at major meetings of Catholic bishops in
Rome in 2014 and 2015.
“We must give a response. But to do so, we must
reflect much in depth,” the Pope said Wednesday.