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BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, POPE SUPPORTED CIVIL UNIONS IN ARGENTINA, ACTIVIST SAYS
Written by admin Featured News, NEWS, News Highlights Mar 22, 2013
CNN
Buenos Aires (CNN) Less than an hour after he fired off an angry letter to
Catholic Church leaders about their handling of Argentina's same-sex marriage
debate, Marcelo Marquez says his phone rang.
He was surprised to hear the voice on the other end of the line. It was Jorge
Mario Bergoglio, then the archbishop of Buenos Aires, and now the pope.
What Bergoglio said to him at a meeting soon afterward that year, 2010, was
even more surprising, Marquez said.
For months, church officials had made sharp, public criticisms of the push to
legalize same-sex marriage in the South American country. But privately,
Bergoglio seemed to be more open to discussion, according to Marquez.
"He told me.
`I'm in favor of gay rights and in any case, I also favor civil
unions for homosexuals, but I believe that Argentina is not yet ready for a gay
marriage law,'" said Marquez, a gay rights activist, a self-described devout
Catholic and a former theology professor at a Catholic seminary.
The pope's reported willingness behind-the-scenes to accept civil unions as a
compromise may offer new insight into how he will lead the world's 1.2 billion
Catholics.
A public battle
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was one of the leaders of the Catholic
Church's public charge against legalizing same-sex marriage in Argentina. He
engaged in a notorious war of words with the government of
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who supported the measure.
Bergoglio put himself in the middle of the fight, calling the proposed
legislation "a destructive attack on God's plan."
With a front-page counterpunch, the president said the church possessed
"attitudes reminiscent of medieval times and the Inquisition."
Some point to the public battle as evidence of Bergoglio's traditionalist views.
But behind closed doors, Marquez said, the man who would become pope appeared
to be more open to discussion of the issue.
In another meeting, Bergoglio told him he had always treated gay people with
respect and dignity.
World reacts to new pope
"I have accompanied many homosexual people during my career to tend to their
spiritual needs," Bergoglio said at the time, according to Marquez.
Pope was `very open, very frank'
Bergoglio, who chose the name Pope Francis after he was elected pontiff last
week, may have voiced his support for civil unions in other circles.
Andres Albertsen, a former pastor of the Danish Church in Buenos Aires, said
Bergoglio made similar comments about civil unions to him in a private meeting.
"In this conversation that we had, he showed himself to be very open, very
frank with me," Albertsen told CNN en Español on Wednesday. "He told me that he
would have accepted a civil union."
According to a story published by The New York Times on Wednesday, Bergoglio
also told bishops at a 2010 meeting that the church should support civil unions
for gay couples.
CNN could not independently confirm the details of the Argentine bishops'
meeting, which was also described in a July 2010 article published by
Argentina's Clarin newspaper.
"Bergoglio faithful to his moderate position proposed continuing measured
actions.
He would suggest, also, that the church discreetly accept the
intermediate alternative of the civil union authorizing a series of rights
(inheritance, social work) that would not equate to marriage nor permit
adoption," wrote journalist Sergio Rubin now Bergoglio's biographer.
But that proposal was rejected by bishops, who voted instead to begin a
high-profile, public battle against same-sex marriage, Rubin wrote.
Pushing for dialogue
A senior Vatican official said he could neither confirm nor deny The New York
Times report at this point, adding that while Pope Francis might have expressed
such a view while he was a cardinal, he should be given time to develop his
policy position as pontiff.
Alejandro Russo, the rector of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires, said
it was unlikely the pope had ever expressed such a view, even in private.
In 2007, Bergoglio publicly criticized Buenos Aires' government for allowing
civil unions, Russo said. His relationship with the mayor of Buenos Aires
soured over the matter.
Gay rights advocates in Argentina later argued that civil unions, allowed in a
several states, were a positive step that conferred some benefits to same-sex
couples, but didn't go far enough. The same-sex marriage measure, they said,
would treat homosexual and heterosexual relationships equally before the law.
It would permit gay couples to adopt, and also allow the inheritance of
property.
Argentina approved a law legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide in July 2010.
Even though Bergoglio was one of the law's most well known opponents, Marquez
said on Wednesday that he hopes the pontiff will remain open to discussion,
just as he appeared to be several years ago in Buenos Aires.
"We are going to try to have a dialogue with the pope," said Marquez, who works
for Argentina's National Institute Against Discrimination. "It's frightening,
but I think it must be done."
`He's really moderate on this issue'
Word of the pope's reported support for civil unions in Argentina sparked
debate, with some praising his stance and saying it was a hopeful sign of
possible reforms.
"He wanted to respect human rights. That's the real surprise here, that people
say, well he's anti-gay. You can be anti-gay marriage and not be anti-gay, and
I think there's a distinction here," said the Rev. Edward
Beck, a CNN contributor and host of "The Sunday Mass" on ABC Family. "He's
really moderate on this issue, it seems."
Others, though, were more skeptical.
One Argentine journalist said Wednesday that he wasn't quite ready to celebrate.
In an article titled, "Francis, the pope that declares war on us and later
calls us on the phone," journalist Bruno Bimbi said it wasn't clear how the
pope will handle the issue of same-sex unions.
"Maybe the lion has become a lamb. Maybe, as a priest told me the day his
election was announced, maybe he is worried about his biography and wants to go
down in history. I do not know," Bimbi wrote. "Whatever he does, this time he
won't be able to blame others for the pressures. Now he's in charge."
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