Pope Francis OPENLY supports homosexuality in recent remarks! By: Chad Wood

     Prior to recent remarks, Pope Francis hasn't said much in regards to homosexuality. In July of 2013 during a press conference Pope Francis had to say that, "If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has a good will, then who am I to judge him?” This was just four months after his election, and a good way to begin. 

    More recently, remarks about same-sex civil unions have been made in a documentary titled, "Francesco." If you are not familiar with same-sex civil unions, they are defined as a legally recognized "arrangement" similar to marriage, created mainly for the purpose of recognition under the law for same-sex couples. The documentary begins with a story told by Andrea Rubera, an openly gay man who resides in Rome with his partner and three children. Rubera wrote a letter to Pope Francis, and handed it to him after taking part in Mass. In the letter, he explained that he had the ambition to raise his children as Catholics. Francis then phoned him to offer him words of encouragement, and Rubera further relays the idea that he believes that the attitude towards gay people have, "massively changed." 

    Further into the documentary, Francis made headlines when he said: “Homosexual people have a right to be in the family. They are children of God. They have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out of the family or made miserable over this. What we have to make is a law of civil coexistence, for they have the right to be legally covered. I stood up for that."

    What makes Francis's statement so monumental is that: he is saying it from the position of Pope, he is evidently supporting- not just tolerating civil unions, and that he is saying this publicly, on camera. He is making waves in the long-standing teachings of the Catholic Church, with the L.G.B.T.Q+ community rallying behind him, and I am all for it!