A new book, Pope Francis has spoken out on a variety of topics from his personal development to many issues facing church and state.   Not surprisingly, LGBT topics were mentioned, and not surprisingly, the pope’s statements are a mixed bag.

The book, entitled Politics and Society, is a series of 12 conversations between the pope and Dominique Wolton, a French sociologist.   Crux carried a string of excerpts from the book on his visits to a psychoanalyst, the role of the laity, colonial exploitation, and, of course, same-gender marriage and gender identity.   On the last topic, the excerpt reads:

“Marriage between people of the same sex? ‘Marriage’ is a historical word. Always in humanity, and not only within the Church, it’s between a man and a woman… we cannot change that. This is the nature of things. This is how they are. Let’s call them ‘civil unions.’ Lets not play with the truth. It’s true that behind it there is a gender ideology. In books also, children are learning that they can choose their own sex. Why is sex, being a woman or a man, a choice and not a fact of nature? This favors this mistake. But let’s say things as they are: Marriage is between a man and a woman. This is the precise term. Lets call unions between the same sex ‘civil unions’.”

Full report:  Bondings 2.0