Mexico's senior Catholic leader backs civil unions for gay couples
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
August 11, 2022

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Splash
    • Videos
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022
Mexico's senior Catholic leader backs civil unions for gay couples

World+Biz

Reuters
12 December, 2020, 11:10 am
Last modified: 12 December, 2020, 11:16 am

Related News

  • G7 backs making climate risk disclosure mandatory
  • Pope Francis backs waivers on intellectual property rights for vaccines
  • Texas House backs Republican-backed voting curbs
  • Saudi Arabia and allies to restore full ties with Qatar, says foreign minister
  • India backs malaria drug for virus prevention

Mexico's senior Catholic leader backs civil unions for gay couples

But Francis’ more open and inclusive tone has marked a sharp contrast with his more conservative predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI

Reuters
12 December, 2020, 11:10 am
Last modified: 12 December, 2020, 11:16 am
Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes arrives to take part in the inauguration ceremony as Mexico's new Archbishop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Romero/File Photo
Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes arrives to take part in the inauguration ceremony as Mexico's new Archbishop at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Romero/File Photo

The Mexican Catholic Church's highest-ranking bishop agrees with recent comments by Pope Francis in support of legal protections offered by civil unions for gay couples, the prelate told Reuters, stressing that no family member should ever be rejected.

Mexico is the second-biggest Catholic country after Brazil with around 80% of its nearly 130 million people affiliated with the church. It has historically been conservative-leaning on social issues.

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar, archbishop of Mexico City, said in an interview that he backs the pope's comments from a documentary that premiered in October and used previously unseen footage from an interview he gave to Mexican broadcaster Televisa. The comments marked the first time a sitting pope had advocated any legal protections for gay couples.

"I completely agree," said Aguiar, a long-time ally of Pope Francis, who spoke ahead of Saturday's feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, one of the Mexican Church's most important annual celebrations.

In the documentary, entitled "Francesco," the pope says, "Homosexual people have the right to be in a family, they are children of god," and "what we have to have is a civil union law, that way they are legally covered."

The pope's comments did not signal any change in church doctrine on homosexuality or support for same-sex marriage, which the Vatican emphasized after the remarks made headlines across the globe.

But Francis' more open and inclusive tone has marked a sharp contrast with his more conservative predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

"All of us are children of god, all are members of the family, and if we're fighting so that families are united, regardless of their conduct, they don't stop being our children. And that's what Pope Francis said, everyone has the right to family," said Aguiar.

The cardinal, who has lobbied against both abortion rights and same-sex marriage, argued that parents should never reject their openly gay children.

"Because if, as it happens unfortunately, a son in a family declares himself openly homosexual, then they don't want to have anything to do with him. And that can't be, it just can't be," he said, echoing Francis' sentiments.

"If they decide as a matter of free choice to be with another person, to be in a union, that's freedom," he said.

Like the Argentine pontiff, the 70-year-old Aguiar touts landmark church reforms in the 1960s that pushed the church closer to the faithful and also embraced a social teaching aimed at alleviating human misery, while focusing less on what Aguiar called the "clerical mentality" that prioritizes the institution.

"The key point was to move away from a church that defended itself from the world," he said.

Aguiar added that much work remains to address poverty and inequality in Mexico and the surrounding region.

"Latin America is the part of the world that's most unequal," he said, "and many of us here are Catholic!

"What kind of witness is that?"

Mexican cardinal / Backs / gay couple

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Fuel price hike could have been avoided with BPC savings: CPD
    Fuel price hike could have been avoided with BPC savings: CPD
  • Can’t afford any more losses: BPC chairman
    Can’t afford any more losses: BPC chairman
  • A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo
    Short measure at petrol pumps due to low commissions: Owners' association

MOST VIEWED

  • US President Donald Trump pauses as he announces his decision that the United States will withdraw from the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, US, June 1, 2017.  Photo :Reuters
    Trump refuses to answer questions in N.Y. attorney general probe
  • The logo of Austrian supermarket chain Spar is seen behind a traffic sign at a shop in Vienna, Austria, July 11, 2016. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader/
    European retailers turn off lights, cut opening hours to save energy
  • A shopper wearing a face mask is pictured at a Dollar Tree store in Pasadena, California, U.S., June 11, 2020. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
    US consumer prices unchanged in July as cost of gasoline plunges
  • Scientists warn rainwater everywhere is unsafe to drink
    Scientists warn rainwater everywhere is unsafe to drink
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China February 4, 2022. Sputnik/Aleksey Druzhinin/Kremlin via REUTERS
    China calls US 'main instigator' of Ukraine crisis
  • Zhou Xiaoxuan, also known by her online name Xianzi, weeps as she arrives at a court for a sexual harassment case involving a Chinese state TV host, in Beijing, China December 2, 2020. REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
    Chinese court rejects TV intern's #MeToo case appeal

Related News

  • G7 backs making climate risk disclosure mandatory
  • Pope Francis backs waivers on intellectual property rights for vaccines
  • Texas House backs Republican-backed voting curbs
  • Saudi Arabia and allies to restore full ties with Qatar, says foreign minister
  • India backs malaria drug for virus prevention

Features

The elevated ground is made out of soil on which grass and trees have grown. This grass-covered elevated ground extends to the perimeter of the establishment. Photo: Maruf Raihan

Aman Mosque: Where form and function complement each other

1d | Habitat
Photo: BSS

Begum Fazilatunnessa Mujib . . . woman of moral power

2d | Thoughts
Will Glass Cosmetics be your next skincare holy grail?

Will Glass Cosmetics be your next skincare holy grail?

2d | Brands
Akij Tableware: More than just dishes on a table

Akij Tableware: More than just dishes on a table

2d | Brands

More Videos from TBS

Salimullah Khan on Ahmad Safa's thinking on nature

Salimullah Khan on Ahmad Safa's thinking on nature

2h | Videos
Will Tata turn around the Indian car market?

Will Tata turn around the Indian car market?

2h | Videos
Those who remain in morgue for years after death

Those who remain in morgue for years after death

4h | Videos
Is Donald Trump getting caught in tax evasion case?

Is Donald Trump getting caught in tax evasion case?

4h | Videos

Most Read

1
Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 
Banking

Dollar crisis: BB orders removal of 6 banks’ treasury chiefs 

2
Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46
Energy

Diesel price hiked by Tk34 per litre, Octane by Tk46

3
Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway
Real Estate

Housing projects sprouting up by Dhaka-Mawa expressway

4
Infographic: TBS
Banking

Dollar rate will be left to market after two months: Governor

5
Photo: Collected
Transport

Will Tokyo’s traffic model solve Dhaka’s gridlocks?

6
Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import
Economy

Bangladesh to resume talks for Ukrainian wheat import

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2022
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]