According to a recently released documentary, Pope Francis has expressed approval of civil unions for same-sex couples, saying, “Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,” and “What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered.” Some have argued that the Pope’s comments are taken out of context and that the film misrepresents his position, but the Vatican has not yet issued clarification on this matter.
Pope Francis would not be the first person to call for civil unions as an alternative to same-sex marriage. While this may seem like a compassionate approach, affirming and encouraging people in a lifestyle that is at odds with God’s design is not a loving thing to do. In 2003, the Catholic church affirmed this by saying,
The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself.
Civil union law, like the legalization of same-sex marriage, does just that. The church cannot give tacit consent to sin by encouraging people to persist in a lifestyle that Scripture condemns, that goes against God’s created order, and that is harmful for those who practice. To do so is neither faithful nor truly loving.
In the United States, the Supreme Court created a new and spurious definition of marriage with the Obergefell decision in 2015. Christians, however, must still affirm that only one man/one woman marriage is the only real marriage union. Pope Francis’s comments are cause for concern because they create confusion regarding Christian teaching and affirm a lifestyle that is at odds with Scripture and natural law. Christians need to speak with boldness and clarity amid the turmoil and confusion of the world around us. Pope Francis’s comments did the exact opposite.
