Pope Francis waves to crowds from his Vatican balcony on Christmas Day. | MICHAEL LUONGO
Pope Francis, recently named as the Advocate’s Person of the Year, was “shocked” at the thought of gay and lesbian couples adopting children, according to Bishop Charles Scicluna of Malta.
The Daily Telegraph of London reported that Scicluna, in an interview with the Times of Malta, said, “We discussed many aspects… and when I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [the right of same-sex couples to adopt] he encouraged me to speak out.” Francis, the bishop told the newspaper, was “shocked” to learn that a civil union bill under consideration in Malta would allow same-sex couples the right to adopt children.
Stickered with a symbol of support for marriage equality, even though he opposes it, Pope Francis was named the Advocate's Person of the Year. | THEADVOCATE.COM
The Telegraph noted that, as Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Francis had opposed adoption by same-sex couples and called gay marriage “the devil’s attack on God’s plan.” At the time Argentina was debating its marriage equality law, Bergoglio urged his fellow bishops to support a civil union alternative, a choice some of the other bishops found unpalatable.
