Pope Francis: Civil unions pragmatist?
During a 2010 bishops meeting, Cardinal Bergoglio tried to broker a gay unions deal as "the lesser of two evils"
By Katie McdonoughTopics: Gay Marriage, civil unions, pope francis, cardinal bergoglio, Life News, News
During the 2010 run-up to legalize same-sex marriage in Argentina, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio denounced the proposal as “a destructive pretension against the plan of God.” But in private, former colleagues say the cardinal worked earnestly for a compromise on the issue.
According to a report in the New York Times, Bergoglio tried to persuade a 2010 meeting of Catholic bishops to support civil unions for gay couples.
Realizing that the gay marriage measure was sure to pass, the man who would be pope advocated for gay unions as the “lessor of two evils,” according to his authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin. “He wagered on a position of greater dialogue with society.”
“Bergoglio’s thinking was very clearly demonstrated both with what he said and in the message of his pastoral work,” said Roxana Alfieri, a social worker in the communications department of the bishops’ central office in Buenos Aires who was present at the 2010 meeting. “He didn’t want the church to take a position of condemning people but rather of respect for their rights like any vulnerable person.”
The bishops rejected Bergoglio’s proposal, while the Argentine Senate passed a measure to legalize gay marriage in July of that year.
Bergoglio failed to broker a church compromise on gay unions, but the incident may provide some insight into the new pontiff’s style of leadership.
As the Times notes:
As he faced one of the most acute tests of his tenure as head of Argentina’s church, he showed another side as well, supporters and critics say: that of a deal maker willing to compromise and court opposing sides in the debate, detractors included.
The approach stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who spent 25 years as the church’s chief doctrinal enforcer before becoming pope, known for an unbending adherence to doctrinal purity. Francis, by comparison, spent decades in the field, responsible for translating such ideals into practice in the real world, sometimes leading to a different approach.
But many who witnessed Bergoglio’s public hard-line persona — even while he quietly pushed for compromise — are not as convinced by the new pope’s apparent pragmatism:
“The reality, beyond what he may have said in private meetings, was that he said some terrible things in public,” Esteban Paulón, president of the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transsexuals, said. “He took a role, in public, that was determinedly combative.”
In addition to supporting widespread protests against gay marriage, Bergoglio called the political battle to defeat the measure “God’s war” and denounced gay parenting as “the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.”
Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salo
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
I'm not achieving my dreams!
-
The most popular Tumblr porn
-
Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation
-
Snapchat is secretly storing your photos
-
Peace Corps to allow gay couples to volunteer together
-
Facebook's hate speech problem
-
Rand Paul: Congress should apologize to Apple, not the other way around
-
When my home was destroyed
-
Okla. mother's tearful reunion with her 8-year-old son
-
New campaign compares gun control to anti-LGBT discrimination
-
Study: Salt Lake City is gay parenting capital of the U.S.
-
You are less beautiful than you think
-
"Ghetto" tour lets you gawk at New York's poor
-
Teen activist to meet with Abercrombie CEO
-
Watch: Family emerges from storm shelter after tornado
-
Okla. tornado survivor reunited with dog trapped in rubble live on camera
-
My miscarriages made me question being pro-choice
-
Why I tried to be a punk
-
I'm terrified of the cicada onslaught
-
Limbaugh: No one willing to impeach the first black president
-
SAT's right answers are all wrong
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid "totally different" from Sandy aid
Jillian Rayfield
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
Andrew Leonard
-
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
"Jodorowsky's Dune": The sci-fi classic that never was
Andrew O'Hehir
-
Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class
Scott Timberg
-
We're living in an Ayn Rand economy
Paul Buchheit, AlterNet
-
My open relationship went awry
David Farley
-
GOP attorney general candidate tried to force women to report miscarriages to police
Katie Mcdonough
-
Obstruction will ruin GOP
Jonathan Bernstein
-
Facebook's hate speech problem
Mary Elizabeth Williams
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

3071 points3072 points3073 points | 2343 comments

152 points153 points154 points | 60 comments

30 points31 points32 points | 15 comments

27 points28 points29 points | 11 comments
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
-
Diane Gilman: Baby Boomers: A New Life-Construct -- From "Invisible to Invincible!" -
Susan Gregory Thomas: Why Divorced Boomer Moms Don't Deserve The Bad Rap -
British Nanny Offered An Annual Salary Of $200,000 -
Arianna Huffington: What I Did (and Didn't Do) On My Summer Vacation -
Vivian Diller, Ph.D.: Maybe Happiness Begins At 50






Comments
8 Comments