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.
Salvage teams on Monday set free a colossal container ship that has halted global trade through the Suez Canal, bringing an end to a crisis that for nearly a week had clogged one of the world’s most vital maritime arteries.
Breaking overnight: the ship is unstuck! The latest from the Suez Canal, the state of the pandemic, March Madness and attempts to answer your questions about which shooting victims are worthy of news coverage.
A maritime traffic jam grew to more than 200 vessels outside the Suez Canal, and others began changing course as dredgers and tugboats tried to free the giant container ship.
Black-owned businesses have been among those hit hardest during COVID-19, but some like Mikey Likes It ice cream shop and the Vanity Beauty Bar have found some help in online programs and grants from companies like Facebook.
In 2007, a group of Facebook engineers introduced “the awesome button” to their boss, Mark Zuckerberg.
What wasn't asked at Biden's first press conference, latest on the Boulder gunman and victims, another toilet paper shortage, and Love, Hate, Ate Sea Shanty Edition.
The suspected gunman in the Boulder supermarket shooting has appeared in court for the first time.
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to 684,000, the fewest since the pandemic erupted a year ago and a sign the economy is improving.
Jill and Carlo are discussing the latest allegations against their governor, plus the new AstraZeneca vaccine results, an historic repeal of the death penalty and remembering Neven Stanisic of the Boulder shooting.
Cheddar's Michelle Castillo spoke with Jonathan Mayers, CEO of Superfly X, about the flagship Friends Experience in Manhattan.
