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.
An Army trainee has been arrested after authorities say he boarded a South Carolina school bus with a gun and held the driver and elementary school students hostage before letting them off the bus.
A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black man’s constitutional rights.
All the COVID metrics are now looking quite good in the U.S., but still quite bad in India. Florida and Texas are next to enact new strict voting restrictions.
Amusement park regulation varies from state to state, but no American amusement park receives federal oversight. In fact, the largest parks are free to regulate themselves.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Broadway theaters can reopen Sept. 14 and will be allowed to decide their own entry requirements, like whether people must prove they’ve been vaccinated to attend a show.
Facebook's oversight board punts on the big Trump decision, Biden changes his tune on vaccine patent protections while Tucker Carlson spreads more misinformation, why Peloton's treadmill is a design fail, and more.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) joined the NYC Cannabis Parade, the first since the Empire State legalized marijuana. The senator promised to continue to fight for "fair, just, and full legalization" on a federal level.
A closer look at bitcoin's experience during the pandemic reveals a handful of major developments that have helped push the OG cryptocurrency to new heights.
Jill and Carlo go over the White House's new strategy to get over the vaccine hump, Pfizer's vaccine revenues, the decision on whether to let Donald Trump back on Facebook, and the broader problems with social media.
Turkey’s shipbreaking yard is located in the town of Aliaga - about 30 miles north of Port Izmir. Usually, this yard breaks down cargo and container ships. But in 2020, it started bringing in another type of vessel. And business is booming.
