Francesco is a new, detailed documentary film exploring the life and teachings of Pope Francis; head of the Catholic Church spanning seven years. The Pope’s comments about the LGBT+ community, however, have hit the headlines as being more forward-thinking than his predecessors. So what has he said? And what does this mean for the church?
In a newly released documentary, Francesco, Pope Francis says, “Homosexual people have a right to be a family” and civil unions should be allowed – his clearest remarks to date.
In the documentary, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, Pope Francis adds, “They are children of god and have a right to be a family”. Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable over it.”
However, critics would argue that the Pope’s latest remarks make no difference to the church’s overall stance on homosexuality.
Josh Horne, an administration assistant from Newcastle, attended a Catholic primary school as a child. Josh argues he was taught to believe that being LGBT+ was wrong and never learnt about other sexualities.
In response to the Pope’s remarks, Josh said: “I don’t know if I necessarily believe him, or whether he has been essentially forced to say that due to global pressure. However, I do think it may make a difference to the church, if the person at the top is offering messages such as this, I think people will hold him accountable for his words.”
Sam Mead, a retail sales advisor also from Newcastle, and member of the LGBT+ community agreed.
He said, “This is the first time I’ve known of such an influential religious leader to speak so openly about acceptable of LGBT+ people, so it has definitely given me hope. However, I do think these words of support should be followed by actions of support, since I know a lot of political figures/influential leaders can say things to gain support and yet not follow with their actions.”
Growing up, Sam believed going to church was ‘something you should do’ and would attend Remembrance Day, Christmas, and Easter events as a child. He has no relationship with the church now.
Previously, the Catholic Church has spoken out against homosexuality and gay relationships.
In 2019, The National LGBT Survey: Summary report stated that more than two thirds of LGBT respondents said they had avoided holding hands with a same sex partner. This was due to fear of a negative reaction from others.
At least two in five respondents had experienced an incident because they were LGBT, such as verbal harassment or physical violence in the 12 months preceding the survey.
More than nine in ten of the most serious incidents went unreported, often because respondents thought ‘it happens all the time’ – an alarming statistic.
So how do the Pope’s remarks resonate internationally?
Konrad Juengling, an LGBT rights activist from Idaho, United States, said, ” I would be surprised if the Pope’s comments results in institutional or doctrinal changes within the church.”
Konrad was raised in a conservative Mormon/LDS family and feared coming out in high school at the risk of being sent to conversion therapy.
He said, “The church is slow to change, and one comment from the Pope is doubtful to make long term differences.”
According to the Pew Forum Religious Landscape Study, the mainstream religion in Idaho, the United States, is Protestantism, followed by Mormonism, and only 10% of the community being Catholic.
Konrad argues that the low number of adults in Idaho following Catholicism is the reason why the Pope’s comments ‘did not make waves’ where he lived.
He argues if the Pope wanted substantial change to happen, he should work to introduce changes instead of ‘only paying for lip service’.
As the head of the Catholic Church becomes more forward-thinking and in favour of the the LGBT+ community, let’s hope these words resonate and incite institutional change.
Written by Millie Lockhart
Image courtesy of Ashwin Vaswani via Unsplash. This image has in no way been altered. Copyright license available here.