Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston and Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence issued statements on Pope Francis’s recent endorsement of civil unions for same-sex couples — statements that reveal more about their own stances on the matter than the Pope’s.
Said the Pope in an interview appearing in the new documentary Francesco, “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God. You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this. What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”
“Quite understandably, the Holy Father’s recent statements concerning civil unions have captured the attention of the world press, because many people are anxious for the Church to change its position on marriage and family,” O’Malley wrote in a statement printed in the Catholic newspaper The Pilot.
“Pope Francis strongly and consistently teaches that marriage is between a man and woman for a lifetime and that this is God’s plan for having and raising children,” O’Malley said.
For his part, Tobin, who called same-sex civil unions “objectively immoral” as reported by The Boston Globe, stated that “Individuals with same-sex attraction are beloved children of God and must have their personal human rights and civil rights recognized and protected by law. However, the legalization of their civil unions, which seek to simulate holy matrimony, is not admissible.”
Reports the Globe:
While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. But he had not come out publicly in favor of civil unions as pope.
In the Boston area, LGBTQ advocates hailed his new stance as a significant step toward inclusion and equality. …
Marianne Duddy-Burke, who directs DignityUSA, a Medford group that advocates for LGBTQ Catholics, said she hoped Francis’s endorsement “will represent a step towards full inclusion and legal protection of same-sex couples and their families, and not a compromise that allows some legal protections, but not full equality that marriage provides.”
O’Malley said Francis is “very aware of the suffering and alienation of homosexual individuals, gay people, who are rejected by family and society.”
“He is also keenly aware of the parents and loved ones who also suffer because a member of their family is bullied or marginalized for being different,” he said. “Our task is to show people that we love them and care about them and that together we can strive to be better people, more generous, more courageous and more faithful to what God is calling us to do.”
Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, said it was “disappointing” to read O’Malley’s “edits and rewrites of the pope’s statements.”
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