Buenos Aires (CNN) -- Less than an hour after he fired off an
angry letter to Catholic Church leaders about their handling of Argentina's
same-sex marriage debate, Marcelo Marquez says his phone rang.
He was surprised to hear
the voice on the other end of the line. It was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then the archbishop of Buenos Aires,
and now the pope.
What Bergoglio said to
him at a meeting soon afterward that year, 2010, was even more surprising,
Marquez said.
For months, church
officials had made sharp, public criticisms of the push to legalize same-sex
marriage in the South American country. But privately, Bergoglio seemed to be
more open to discussion, according to Marquez.
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"He told me. ...
'I'm in favor of gay rights and in any case, I also favor civil unions for
homosexuals, but I believe that Argentina is not yet ready for a gay marriage
law,'" said Marquez, a gay rights activist, a self-described devout
Catholic and a former theology professor at a Catholic seminary.
A public battle
Bergoglio put himself in
the middle of the fight, calling the proposed legislation "a destructive
attack on God's plan."
With a front-page
counterpunch, the president said the church possessed "attitudes
reminiscent of medieval times and the Inquisition."
Some point to the public
battle as evidence of Bergoglio's traditionalist views.
But behind closed doors,
Marquez said, the man who would become pope appeared to be more open to
discussion of the issue.
In another meeting,
Bergoglio told him he had always treated gay people with respect and dignity.
"I have accompanied
many homosexual people during my career to tend to their spiritual needs,"
Bergoglio said at the time, according to Marquez.
Pope was 'very open,
very frank'
Bergoglio, who chose the
name Pope Francis after he was elected pontiff last week, may have voiced his
support for civil unions in other circles.
Andres Albertsen, a
former pastor of the Danish Church in Buenos Aires, said Bergoglio made similar
comments about civil unions to him in a private meeting.
"In this
conversation that we had, he showed himself to be very open, very frank with
me," Albertsen told CNN en Español on Wednesday. "He told me that he
would have accepted a civil union."
CNN could not
independently confirm the details of the Argentine bishops' meeting, which was
also described in a July 2010 article published by Argentina's Clarin
newspaper.
"Bergoglio --
faithful to his moderate position -- proposed continuing measured actions. ...
He would suggest, also, that the church discreetly accept the intermediate
alternative of the civil union -- authorizing a series of rights (inheritance,
social work) -- that would not equate to marriage nor permit adoption," wrote journalist Sergio Rubin -- now Bergoglio's biographer.
But that proposal was
rejected by bishops, who voted instead to begin a high-profile, public battle
against same-sex marriage, Rubin wrote.
Pushing for dialogue
A senior Vatican
official said he could neither confirm nor deny The New York Times report at
this point, adding that while Pope Francis might have expressed such a view
while he was a cardinal, he should be given time to develop his policy position
as pontiff.
Alejandro Russo, the
rector of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires, said it was unlikely the
pope had ever expressed such a view, even in private.
In 2007, Bergoglio
publicly criticized Buenos Aires' government for allowing civil unions, Russo
said. His relationship with the mayor of Buenos Aires soured over the matter.
Gay rights advocates in
Argentina later argued that civil unions, allowed in a several states, were a
positive step that conferred some benefits to same-sex couples, but didn't go
far enough. The same-sex marriage measure, they said, would treat homosexual
and heterosexual relationships equally before the law. It would permit gay
couples to adopt, and also allow the inheritance of property.
Argentina approved a law
legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide in July 2010.
Even though Bergoglio
was one of the law's most well known opponents, Marquez said on Wednesday that
he hopes the pontiff will remain open to discussion, just as he appeared to be
several years ago in Buenos Aires.
"We are going to
try to have a dialogue with the pope," said Marquez, who works for
Argentina's National Institute Against Discrimination. "It's frightening,
but I think it must be done."
'He's really moderate on
this issue'
Word of the pope's
reported support for civil unions in Argentina sparked debate, with some
praising his stance and saying it was a hopeful sign of possible reforms.
"He wanted to
respect human rights. That's the real surprise here, that people say, well he's
anti-gay. You can be anti-gay marriage and not be anti-gay, and I think there's
a distinction here," said the Rev.
Edward Beck, a CNN contributor and host of "The Sunday
Mass" on ABC Family. "He's really moderate on this issue, it
seems."
Others, though, were
more skeptical.
One Argentine journalist
said Wednesday that he wasn't quite ready to celebrate.
"Maybe the lion has
become a lamb. Maybe, as a priest told me the day his election was announced,
maybe he is worried about his biography and wants to go down in history. I do
not know," Bimbi wrote. "Whatever he does, this time he won't be able
to blame others for the pressures. Now he's in charge."
