SHOULD CIVIL UNION BE LEGALIZED IN THE PHILIPPINES BECAUSE OF POPE FRANCIS?

“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right
to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it. What we have to
create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that [1].

These were the words of Pope Francis that shocked the whole world. The same words caused
divisions among Catholics while it led to the unity of liberals who were praising the Pope for
approval of their "rights." It also led to an uproar from the people, especially in the Philippines,
to give legal recognition to a civil union, specifically to a same-sex civil union, because of Pope
Francis. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said:

"But with no less than the pope supporting it, I think even the most conservative of all Catholics
in Congress should no longer have a basis for objecting [2].”

This leads us to the question, "Should civil union be legalized in the Philippines because of Pope
Francis?" My answer to that question is, "No." In order to understand why this is the case, let's
recall the controversial statement of Pope. Pope Francis said:

"What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered. I stood up for
that [1]."

Many have pointed out that the word "civil union" may be a mistranslation, and that the more
accurate translation should be "law of civil coexistence[3]." However, Archbishop Victor
Manuel Fernández, a close ally of the pope, said that "civil union" or "convivencia civil" are the
same [4]. We are still waiting for more information, but it seems that with the clarifications
mentioned, Pope Francis really meant "civil union" and let's suppose that this is what he actually
said.  It's important to acknowledge that in the interview, Pope Francis said, "I stood up for that"
alluding to the time that he was a cardinal in Argentina. As such, when we examine the words of
our Pope in relation to the civil union, we have to know the background in his country. 

Civil unions were already made legal in four jurisdictions in Argentina such as the Autonomous
City of Buenos Aires (2002) [5], the province of Río Negro (2003) [6], the city of Villa Carlos
Paz (2007) [7], and the city of Río Cuarto (2009) [8]. On April 15, 2010, the Chamber of
Deputies' General Law Committee and the Committee on Family, Women, Children and Youth
recommended the legalization of same-sex marriage [9]. One of the critics of the same-sex
marriage bill was Cardinal Bergoglio (who became Pope Francis).

However, there were accounts from his autobiographer that said he privately proposed civil
union compromise because it's the "lesser of the two evils [10]." The majority of the bishops
disagreed with Cardinal Bergoglio while the government passed the same-sex marriage bill into
law. When Pope Francis preferred the "lesser of the two evils", what principle was he
drawing from? In 2003, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) during the time of
St. Pope John Paul II presented a magisterial document that says:
"When legislation in favour of the recognition of homosexual unions is already in force, the
Catholic politician must oppose it in the ways that are possible for him and make his opposition
known; it is his duty to witness to the truth. If it is not possible to repeal such a law completely,
the Catholic politician, recalling the indications contained in the Encyclical Letter Evangelium
vitae, “could licitly support proposals aimed at limiting the harm done by such a law and at
lessening its negative consequences at the level of general opinion and public morality”, on
condition that his “absolute personal opposition” to such laws was clear and well known and
that the danger of scandal was avoided."

It seems that the principle laid down in the Encyclical Letter Evangelium vitae and repeated in
the 2003 document is applied by Pope Francis in Argentina. Jimmy Akin, a senior apologist in
Catholic Answers, said:

"In that the case, it could be licit to try to stop the full-blown national recognition of homosexual
marriage by tolerating a lesser form of legal recognition (i.e., civil unions) as a stopgap
measure to prevent the even worse situation from happening. After all, it would be vastly harder
to roll back a homosexual marriage law once it's in force than to stop it from coming into force
[12].

Let's remember that this is a prudential judgment by the Pope during the time that same-sex
marriage is ready to be given full support by the government in Argentina. His prudential
judgment may be mistaken as believed by other bishops as well. However, it is important to note
that if Pope Francis referenced the time he was the cardinal in Argentina, then his stance should
be interpreted in light of the principles laid by the CDF. The fact of the matter is, the Philippines
is simply not Argentina.

In the Philippines, civil partnership bills are still pending and are waiting to be passed [13].
Same-sex marriage bills are still bills, and we do not have a situation where the only necessary
action in order to avoid the greater harm of the legal recognition of same-sex marriage is by
choosing a civil union. In fact, the idea that passing civil partnership bills as necessary for legal
protection rights, property rights, hospital visitation rights, etc is questionable [14]. Advocates of
civil union bills are fighting for adoption rights, and yet Pope Francis has clarified in a
conference that “children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable
of creating a suitable environment for the child’s growth and emotional development [15].” If the
interpretation of Jimmy Akin that Pope Francis is drawing from the 2003 document of CDF is
plausible, then we have to look for what that document says when the legal recognition of same-
sex unions is first introduced. 

"When legislation in favour of the recognition of homosexual unions is proposed for the first
time in a legislative assembly, the Catholic law-maker has a moral duty to express his opposition
clearly and publicly and to vote against it. To vote in favour of a law so harmful to the common
good is gravely immoral [10]."
More can be said about civil union bills, but I think it's important for others to understand that
it may be imprudent for the statement of Pope Francis to come out like that because it causes
confusion to many individuals, especially those who are unaware of the teachings of the Catholic
Church, the content of the civil partnership bills and the stance of Pope Francis. There are
different ways of addressing their rights without giving legal recognition to a civil union which
in the minds of others is approval and promotion of their behavior. I would like to end this with
the conclusion by the CDF.

"The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of
homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires
that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of
society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage
would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a
model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common
inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and
women and for the good of society itself [11]."

References:

[1] https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-calls-for-civil-union-law-for-same-
sex-couples-in-shift-from-vatican-stance-12462

[2] https://www.onenews.ph/pope-francis-support-for-same-sex-civil-union-sparks-debates-
filipino-bishop-shocked-scandalized

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/CGn08rdjvof/
[4] https://www.facebook.com/victormanuel.fernandez.378/posts/10223805688552847

[5] https://web.archive.org/web/20070928135630/http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/n
ote.jsp?idContent=1031&Key=ARGENTINA
[6] http://www.rionegro.com.ar/diario/2008/02/03/20082v03s01.php
[7] http://www.clarin.com/diario/2007/11/23/um/m-01547228.htm
[8] http://www.lavoz.com.ar/09/05/07/Rio-Cuarto-aprueban-union-civil-parejas-gays.html
[9] https://web.archive.org/web/20100419132736/http://www.losandes.com.ar/notas/2010/4/15/u
n-484245.asp

[10] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/world/americas/pope-francis-old-colleagues-recall-
pragmatic-streak.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
[11] https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20
030731_homosexual-unions_en.html?fbclid=IwAR1lTW7bErY27r3-
U6NX4KAjXiTj6OBQtufDkpT2yVr--O11_8lWQ-p4Nw4

[12] https://www.ncregister.com/blog/pope-francis-on-homosexual-unions
[13] http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_18/HB01357.pdf
[14] https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?
story_fbid=858202094716977&id=246175402586319
[15] http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2014/november/documents/papa-
francesco_20141117_congregazione-dottrina-fede.html

DCF: https://www.facebook.com/dcfvanguardsoftruth/posts/3435374263353517

COP: https://www.facebook.com/KonserbatiboPINAS/posts/187055896362683