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.
Jamal Henderson, chief content officer at the SpringHill Company, says Hollywood has more work to do when it comes to diversity. The producer, actor, and executive also emphasized artists bringing their best to help make it happen.
New York’s attorney general is suing the National Rifle Association, seeking to put the powerful gun advocacy organization out of business over allegations that high-ranking executives diverted millions of dollars for personal benefit.
Checkpoints in NYC, mansion parties in L.A., and the world's worst coronavirus outbreak in between. What went wrong in Beirut? Plus, the latest on the presidential race and why everyone, even Michelle Obama, is feeling bummed right now.
FBI agents including a SWAT team have raided the home of YouTube star Jake Paul.
U.S. testing for the coronavirus is dropping even as infections remain high and the death toll rises by more than 1,000 a day.
New data from online video analytics company Conviva showed overall streaming and connected device viewership was up 63 percent globally during the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same time last year.
The Lebanese government says it is putting an unspecified number of Beirut port officials under house arrest pending an investigation into how 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate came to be stored at the port for years.
A catastrophe in a major Middle Eastern city: the latest on the twin blasts that rocked Beirut. Plus, Isaias leaves a wide swath of damage, knocking out power along the East Coast (including at Jill's). And Disney throws in the towel on its tentpole movie event of the summer.
A huge explosion rocked Beirut, inflicting injuries and damaging buildings in a large radius around the city's port.
Jay-Z’s entertainment company is partnering with Brooklyn’s Long Island University to launch the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment.
