Papal first as Pope Francis endorses same-sex unions

In a feature-length documentary which premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday, the pope said that “homosexual people have the right to be in a family”.

The film, ‘Francesco,’ examines issues such as racial and income inequality and discrimination.

The pope gives the papal approval midway through the documentary, which also delves into issue around the environment, poverty and migration.

While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages but he had never publicly backed civil unions as pope.

“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family,” he said in one of his sit-down interviews for the film.

“They are children of God. What we have to have is a civil union law, that way they are legally covered.”

Director Evgeny Afineevsky had remarkable access to cardinals, the Vatican television archives and the pope himself.

He said he negotiated his way in through persistence and deliveries of Argentine mate (herbal) tea and Alfajores cookies that he got to the pope via some well-connected Argentines in Rome.

The catechism of the Catholic Church considers homosexual acts as “intrinsically disordered” and the church is opposed to same-sex marriage.

On Wednesday night the Presbyterian Church in Ireland reaffirmed its opposition to same-sex marriage.

A Presbyterian Church spokesman said: “Without having the full detail of what Pope Francis said, or meant, it would be inappropriate for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to comment on his position. However, our church is clear in upholding the traditional, biblical and Christian position that marriage is between one man and one women.”

Following the same-sex marriage referendum in the Republic in 2015, the Church of Ireland (CoI) said: “The archbishops and bishops of the Church of Ireland wish to affirm that the people of the Republic of Ireland, in deciding by referendum to alter the State’s legal definition of marriage, have of course acted fully within their rights.

“The Church of Ireland, however, defines marriage as between a man and a woman, and the result of this referendum does not alter this.”

Earlier this year, the CoI again stressed that the “doctrine of the Church of Ireland is that marriage is between one man and one woman; this is therefore the only form of marriage which may be celebrated within the church.”