Pope Francis made headlines for his remarks about same-sex marriage.
His comments were praised by liberals but also prompted calls for clarification from conservatives.
According to the Vatican, the pope’s remarks on civil union laws in the documentary ‘Francesco’ last month was taken out of context and did not signal a change in Church doctrine on same-sex couples.
In the documentary, the Pope says: “Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family.”
The Vatican’s Secretariat of State sent a letter to papal representatives around the world. It was later published on the Facebook page of the Vatican nuncio to Mexico, Archbishop Franco Coppola.
According to CNN, the letter says: “More than a year ago, during an interview, Pope Francis answered two different questions at two different times that, in the aforementioned documentary, were edited and published as a single answer without the proper contextualization, which has led to confusion.”
When the pope said in the documentary that “what we need is a civil union law,” the Vatican explained that he was opposed to same-sex marriage law in Argentina 10 years ago when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The letter also claims that the Pope “had spoken about rights of these people to have certain legal protection,” but not about same-gender unions.
It continues: “It is clear that Pope Francis was referring to certain provisions made by states, and certainly not to the doctrine of the Church, which he has reaffirmed numerous times over the years.”
The letter also explains that the Pope said that “a son or daughter with a homosexual orientation should never be discriminated against within the family.”
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