"What the Pope has said on this subject is what he also maintained when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires," Fernández added.
"For him, the expression 'marriage' has a precise meaning and only applies to a stable union between a man and a woman open to communicating life…there is a word, 'marriage,' that only applies to that reality. Any other similar union requires another name," the archbishop explained.
Last week, Aguer told ACI Prensa that in 2010, "Cardinal Bergoglio, then being the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, proposed in a plenary assembly of the Argentine bishops' conference to support the legality of civil unions of homosexual persons by the state, as a possible alternative to what was called - and is called - 'marriage equality.'"
"At that time, the argument against him was that it was not a merely political or sociological question, but that it involved a moral judgment; consequently, the sanction of civil laws contrary to the natural order cannot be promoted. It was also noted that this teaching has been repeatedly stated in the documents of the Second Vatican Council. The plenary of the Argentine bishops rejected that proposal and voted against it," Aguer said.
America Magazine published Oct. 24 the apparent context of the pope's remark on civil unions.
During a discussion on the pope's opposition to a same-sex marriage proposal when he was an archbishop in Argentina, Alazraki asked Pope Francis if he had adopted more liberal positions after becoming pope, and if so, whether that was attributable to the Holy Spirit.
Alazraki asked: "You waged a whole battle over egalitarian weddings, of couples of the same sex in Argentina. And later they say that you arrived here, they elected you pope and you appeared much more liberal than what you were in Argentina. Do you recognize yourself in this description that some people who knew you before make, and was it the grace of the Holy Spirit that gave you a boost? (laughs)"
According to America Magazine, the pope responded that: "The grace of the Holy Spirit certainly exists. I have always defended the doctrine. And it is curious that in the law on homosexual marriage…. It is an incongruity to speak of homosexual marriage. But what we have to have is a law of civil union (ley de convivencia civil), so they have the right to be legally covered."
The last sentence was omitted when Alazraki's interview was broadcast in 2019.
The Secretariat of State's statement seems to confirm that the pope said "I stood up for that," immediately after his other remarks on civil unions, a fact which had not previously been made clear.
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