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.
After two months of lower than expected job gains, the June jobs data has brought some cheer to those looking for a faster economic recovery.
Fourth of July weekend in America is here. Jill and Carlo discuss the travel forecast, a tropical threat in the Atlantic, the latest on vaccinations, and much more.
America’s most iconic youth organizations – the Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA – have been jolted by unprecedented one-year drops in membership.
President Joe Biden has drawn on his own experiences with grief and loss to comfort families affected by the Florida condo collapse.
Princes William and Harry have unveiled a statue of their late mother, Princess Diana, on what would have been her 60th birthday in a small and brief ceremony at London’s Kensington Palace.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid fell again last week to the lowest level since the pandemic struck last year.
Jill and Carlo discuss the incredible decision to overturn Bill Cosby's rape conviction, what to watch as President Biden visits the condo collapse site in Florida, Apple's big streaming test, and the IOC comes to its senses on nursing moms.
Bill Cosby has been freed from prison after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction.
Mask guidance starting to make a comeback, stories of survival and heartbreak in Miami, airlines stake bets on the future and the TikTok trend that has resurrected one brand from the dead.
It's Day 6 of a painstaking effort to find survivors after after the collapse of a beachfront Florida condominium.
