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.
This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy's mandates have kept amusement parks, aquariums, and many local businesses on the beach closed to protect the public health.
Negotiators for the city of Minneapolis have agreed with the state to ban the use of chokeholds by police and to require police to report and intervene anytime they see an unauthorized use of force by another officer.
On Wednesday morning, a crane lifted Philadelphia's most controversial public statue from the steps of the Municipal Services Building near City Hall.
Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes is among more than a dozen NFL stars who united to send a passionate video message to the league about racial inequality.
The mural of George Floyd projected above his golden coffin, where mourners knelt and cried, paused and prayed at his memorial service had a simple message: “I can breathe now.”
The NBA’s Board of Governors has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida.
Virginia's governor says a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee will be removed as soon as possible from Richmond’s Monument Avenue.
Loralei HoJay, a law student who started a petition on Change.org seeking justice for Breonna Taylor, talked to Cheddar on Wednesday. Taylor, a black woman, was killed by police when they affected a no-knock raid on her home by mistake.
Universal Orlando became the first of Orlando's major theme park resorts to reopen by allowing annual pass-holders to return to its three parks Wednesday and Thursday. It will open to the general public Friday for the first time since mid-March.
The three other police officers on the scene when a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee on George Floyd’s neck have been charged with aiding and abetting a murder.
