Pope Francis has said that same-sex couples should be protected by civil union laws in some of the clearest languages he has used on the rights of gay people since his election seven years ago. He made his comments in a new documentary “Francesco” by Oscar-nominated director Evgeny Afineevsky that was released on Wednesday.
Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president, likes romantic metaphors. “Our marriage is stronger than ever,” he said in May after the press speculated that he was at odds with the economy minister, Paulo Guedes. “The marriage ended with no hard feelings,” he said this month after sacking Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, a minister who had said that others in government should be more careful on social media—thus outraging Bolsonaro fans who tweet about the virtues of military rule and the horrors of homosexuality.
Retired Pope Benedict XVI has published a letter which blames clerical sex abuse on the “all-out sexual freedom” of the 1960s. He said that cultural and historical change had led to a “dissolution” of morality in Catholicism.
Pope Francis said the Catholic Church should not allow its bans on gay marriage, abortion and contraception to dominate its teachings, but must be a more welcoming Church where priests are understanding-pastors and not cold, dogmatic bureaucrats.
Uruguay’s Lower House voted 81 in 87 to legalize same sex marriage on Wednesday, approving a single law for both heterosexuals and homosexuals regulating all kinds of family issues, from divorce to adoption to in-vitro fertilization and how parents can name their children.
The University of Montevideo accepted the resignation of who had been nominated as Dean following the controversy triggered when in an interview she described homosexuality as an “anomaly” and added this condition “hampers” teaching staff contracting.
The Paraguayan organization “Somosgay” (We Are Gay) has announced for Monday May 17 a “kissing marathon” in front of the National Congress beginning 09:00 in the morning in coincidence with the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia
Sir Elton John, 63, has been banned from performing in Egypt over his views on homosexuality and religion. The outspoken British pop icon was due to play a private show on 18 May but has been told he is not welcome.
Brazil’s Catholic bishops rejected statements from their Porto Alegre peer, Monsignor Dadeus Grings who—in the midst of a global scandal over priests’ sexual abuse of minors—argued that modern society is naturally “paedophile”.
The Argentine Catholic Church said that the Lower House ruling that approved the bill to legalize same-sex marriage is “very serious”. The Church, through its spokespersons, said that the bill “does not constitute any kind of progress” and that “it could revolutionize the concept of society and of family.”