Catholics welcome Pope's support for same-sex civil unions

Controversy erupted recently following the recent report of statements made by Pope Francis seemingly endorsing civil unions for same-sex couples. Many among local members of the Catholic Church wonder what the remarks mean for the institution of marriage as defined by the church.

In Francesco, the documentary about his life, the Pope is heard saying, “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be made miserable over it. What we have to have is a civil union law — that way they are legally covered.” The documentary premiered on October 21 at the Rome Film Festival.

Church leaders have reached out to their members to explain the Pope’s statements. Bishop of St George's in Grenada Clyde Harvey, a Trinidadian, said it was important to realise the statements were made in the larger context of how Christians treat LGBTQI people.

“This statement is about the rights of gay people under the law. Do you, because you’ve lived with somebody for a long time, and maybe you lived a totally celibate existence, but when you die, does the person’s family, a brother, a sister, somebody like that, have a right to come and say, I am the next of kin, and therefore I can throw you out of the house? That is what the civil law tries to protect, and the Pope is saying, in those cases particularly, people have a right to protection under the law. Marriage will never be, from a Catholic perspective, between people of the same sex, the same gender, but the church stands with those who say, regardless of my sexual orientation, my rights under the law must be protected.”

Archbishop of Port of Spain Jason Gordon, speaking during a mass on Wednesday, said the Pope meant that all people need legal protection.

“The problem is once we start thinking about it from the perspective of sex, there is a problem. If you think about it as human beings cohabitating, that’s different. What we are saying is, here are human beings that need a certain type of protection, why? Because inheritance, power of attorney are things people come to need without even seeing sometimes because it is so sudden, that’s as simple as it is.”

Catholic Commission for Social Justice chair Leela Ramdeen said the Pope had not changed the basic sacrament of marriage as being between a man and a woman, as stated in section 1601 of the Catholic catechism. She said he had made similar statements about civil unions in 2010 and 2014.

“The Pope is saying, let’s protect their legal rights if they’re just living together. In many countries they have no legal rights, so if one party is working and they have for instance healthcare, the other party is not entitled to have any access to any of the benefits or legal rights they would have if they had civil unions. There are 29 countries in our world, out of 195 countries, which have legalised same-sex marriage. The church is not approving that, the church is saying give them civil unions that will protect their rights, which is totally different from marriage. The church is recognising changing times and the discrimination of a family throwing out their children when they find out they’re gay, is not right.”

Members of the Catholic community had varying views on the Pope’s statements. Some asked that their full names not be used.

Guyanne Wilson, who teaches a Catholic first communion class and runs a youth group, said she was not really surprised by the statements.

“Personally I have no feelings about it. It's the role of governments to protect the rights of all citizens, and I think homosexual couples should have the same legal rights re inheritance, next of kin, hospital visits in ICU etc, which a civil union would grant them. I have gay friends, and I would like this for them. Many Catholics are more open-minded than you'd think, and I think most of the people I know would welcome discussion and would generally welcome the Pope's statements.”

Ian Richards, who described himself as a “lapsed-ish” Catholic, said he is pretty happy with Pope Francis, and is not a fan of the doctrinaire Benedictine Catholics, or those believing that Francis is a heretic.

“His statements aren’t inconsistent with what he’s said before, or even with church teaching that LGBTI people are children of God. He speaks of human rights in civil court, secular, not ecclesiastical, Caesar, not God. He is saying that gay people deserve the same civil rights as anybody else under secular law. Full protection of the law, including rights under civil marriage legal civil contract, nothing to do with religious marriage. It’s about time. I’m not here to deny anybody a right that not infringing on my personal rights. It takes nothing away from church marriage because the pronouncement does not refer to that.”

Paccino, who said his relationship with the church is strained because of his sexuality, said, “What I gathered is that he is saying as the church we must protect gay people and allow them basic human rights to love. I personally love it and love that he is openly supporting the gay community.”

Gaynor Foster, who said he was born and raised in the Catholic church, said the Pope’s statements told him that the church is becoming even more open and welcoming to LGBTI people.

“A number of people had stopped going to church because of their lifestyle and in some cases they have been discriminated against by some members and so they left the church. I’m surprised that up until now the church and its local leaders has been very silent. However, I don’t see a big problem from the membership.”

Singer Gillian Moor, who was raised in the church but left, said the statements on civil unions for LGBTI people has no bearing on the actual policies and practices of the church.

“This Pope has consistently made statements that are liberal-leaning and more in line with public sentiment, but nothing has changed in terms of doctrine. It makes you wonder if it's all just PR, meant to improve the church's image while it continues with business as usual. I expect the local church to react with conservatism. I don't expect them to embrace civil unions for gay people.”

Stacy said she was touched by the Pope’s statement, as her understanding was he was trying to set an example of inclusion where LGBTI people still have rights in the world.

“It felt good being lesbian and hearing him tell the world LGBTI people ought not to be treated badly because of who we are and that we do have the right to be part of a family. I have been made to feel miserable by family members who consider themselves to be "godly" and "Catholic.” I have been alienated and looked down upon and it hurts that it takes a statement like this from the Pope to have to tell people to treat each other right and with respect.”

Natasha said she does not see a problem with civil unions as stated by the Pope.

“In this country we have provisions for common-law unions and for legal marriage or what we call informally 'Red House marriage' where there is a civil union without a church ceremony and where people could have rights to inheritance, etc. These unions are not recognised by the church as marriage either, so why not allow LGBTI people to have similar rights as any other civil union? The church hierarchy has already spoken and clarified but many in the pews would be angry as they feel that the "gays" shouldn't have the same rights as church married couples.”

Anselm said he understood what the Pope was trying to say and thought he was signalling a shift in the Vatican’s position.

“I think it shows greater respect for individual rights. I don't expect the church to bless such civil unions anytime soon or recognise them as marriages under church law. I feel dissatisfied but it’s a start. I think it is a welcome development, as the trend is clearly in favour of increasing acceptance. I'm not surprised by some of the initial negative reaction locally to the Pope's statement. There are priests and some of us in the pews who are progressive and that is a source of hope. The reality is that many of our youths are already more liberal and they will vote with their feet. The pews are already emptying.”

This is not the first time the issue of LGBTI discrimination and same-sex marriage has come up in TT. In June 2018, Gordon joined with other religious leaders to uphold traditional marriage and oppose LGBTI rights following the April 12 ruling in the Jason Jones case. The high court ruling in the case stated that sections 13 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act, which criminalised sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex, were “unconstitutional, illegal, null (and) void.” Since then, the Attorney General has begun the process of appealing the judgment to the Privy Council, in order to receive a definitive ruling on the case.