In an interview with Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily newspaper, Pope Francis opened the discussion for supporting civil unions within certain circumstances. One example would be if the civil union ensured that both people were received health care.
Although the pontiff reiterated church teaching that defines marriage as between “a man and a woman,” he said, “We have to look at different cases and evaluate them in their variety.”
According to Catholic News Service, this is the first time that a pope has ever indicated the possibility of accepting civil unions.
Pope Francis also addressed other controversial issues in Wednesday’s interview including contraception, the role of women, and the devastating clergy sexual abuse scandal.
It will be interesting to see how others react to the pontiff’s comments in the upcoming days.
Here’s the original interview with Corriere della Sera (in Italian).
A recent U.S. Catholic Sounding Board asked if it was time to separate church and state marriages. Here are the article and the results from February 2014.
Image: Flickr photo cc by Catholic Church (England and Wales)
