Pope Francis waves to faithful at the end of the weekly general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
By Nicole Winfield
Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary “Francesco,” which had its premiere at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday.
The papal thumbs up came midway through the film that delves into issues he cares about most, including the environment, poverty, migration, racial and income inequality, and the people most affected by discrimination.
“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” Francis said in one of his sit-down interviews for the film. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”
While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of civil unions as pope.
Director Evgeny Afineevsky had remarkable access to cardinals, the Vatican television archives, and the pope himself. He said he negotiated his way in through persistence, and deliveries of Argentine mate tea and Alfajores cookies that he got to the pope via some well-connected Argentines in Rome.
Cheddar's Michelle Castillo looks into the growth in cigar smoking that took place during the pandemic, and how supply chain woes have come to hurt this industry as well.
He tried to catch them all. A man from Georgia has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for using COVID relief to buy a rare Charizard Pokemon Card with $58,000 of the loan money. The collectible has now become government property.
For Fadia Kader, the global head of strategic and media partnerships at social audio app Clubhouse, it's about pushing culture forward and connecting people with the biggest and brightest stars in music and entertainment.
Lie detectors don't work. In fact, the science behind them has been increasingly scrutinized since their inception. But they’re still being used in high-stakes scenarios with real consequences.
So, if lie detectors don’t actually work, why do we still use them?
Soaring gas prices, South Korea's presidential election is getting nasty, and it was a big night for country music! Here is all the news you Need2Know for Tuesday, March 8, 2022.
Country music fans watching the Academy of Country Music Awards tonight will be doing so in a different way than years past. The ceremony will not be broadcast on network TV and will air exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. This will be the first time a major awards show will be live-streamed exclusively on a subscription video-on-demand platform. Shelly Kramer, co-founder and lead analyst of Futurum Research, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Atomic bills itself as an investing API that allows fintechs and banks to easily integrate investing into their products by bringing the power of investing to everyone, with no account minimums. In November, the company announced its launch along with a $25 million Series A funding round. David Dindi, co-founder and CEO of Atomic, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Derek Shearer, former U.S. Ambassador to Finland and contributing writer for Washington Monthly, joins Cheddar News to discuss the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
