Pope’s comments on same-sex civil unions ‘taken out of context’

A clarification letter has been sent on Pope Francis's comments

The Vatican has sent a letter to papal representatives around the world seeking to clarify Pope Francis’ comments in support of same-sex civil unions, suggesting they were taken out of context by a documentary filmmaker.

Two comments by Pope Francis in the film “Francesco” by Russian-born director Evgeny Afineevsky “were edited and published as a single answer without the proper contextualisation, which has led to confusion,” according to a letter sent around the world by the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The clarification letter, dated October 30, was published on Facebook by the Vatican nuncio to Mexico, Archbishop Franco Coppola, and its authenticity later confirmed by CNN.

In the letter, the Vatican maintained the Pope’s comments about needing a civil union law referred to his opposition to a same-sex marriage law in Argentina when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Pope Francis said ′′it is incongruous to talk about gay marriage", adding that, in that same context, he had discussed gay couples’ rights to legal coverage. 

"What we need is a law of civil coexistence; they have the right to be legally covered. I defended that," says the letter.

The clarification letter goes on to explain a pastoral reference the Pope made in line with previous guidance, about the importance of families never discriminating against a homosexual son or daughter.

“They refer to the words: ′′Gay people have the right to be in family; they are children of God, they are entitled to a family. You can’t kick anyone out of family or make life impossible for that reason," explained the letter.

While the film edited and interpreted the Pope’s words to suggest he supported the right for same-sex couples to form families, the letter states his actual intent was to suggest homosexuals should never suffer violence or discrimination within the family.

The film held its premiere in Rome on October 21. The director claimed to have personally interviewed the Pope, but it was later discovered the footage included in the film was never-used outtakes from a Mexico Televiso interview conducted in 2019.