The appointment of a Pope who affirmed that Marriage Equality was a devil’s plan, is a bad sign for LGBTI rights

The election of the until yesterday Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, as the new Pope, marks the clear desire of the Vatican to radicalize its position against the recognition of diverse family structures. During the campaign for Marriage Equality in Argentina, Bergoglio led a crusade in the name of “God’s War” against it, which he declared a “plan of the devil.” The Argentina Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans expresses its deep regret for the appointment of the Archbishop of the City of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, as the new Pope.

Jorge Bergoglio, who was twice the President of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, led the campaigns against the laws of Marriage Equality (2010) and Gender Identity (2011/2012), obstructing the legislative advances that were fought by the work of the FALGBT and the sexual diversity movement. In the year 2010, during his public arguments against the law of equality, Bergoglio stated that, “The Argentine people will have to confront, the next weeks, a situation whose result can gravely hurt the family. This is the bill on same sex marriage." In addition he stated that, with the legal acceptance of egalitarian matrimony in Argentina, there would be at stake, “The identity and the survival of the family: father, mother, and children. At stake is the life of so many children who will be deprived from the human development that God wanted by giving them a father and a mother. At stake is a direct rejection of the law of God, also engraved in our hearts." In those same declarations Bergoglio expressed: “We remember what God himself said to his people in a moment of much anguish: ‘this war is not yours but God’s.’ May they assist, defend, and accompany him in this war of God’s.” Note that now, Pope Francisco I is an active militant against the right for secure, legal and free abortion, still awaiting debate in the Argentine Parliament despite the enormous social and parliamentary consensus that the ruling has. Likewise, the performance of Bergoglio during the last military dictatorship is being investigated, especially regarding the theft of babies and disappearance of priests of liberation theology. In that respect Esteban Paulón, president of the FALGBT, expressed, “If it is truly certain that we do not have expectations for change on the part of the Vatican, the election of someone who promoted a “God’s War” against Marriage Equality, does not stand to correct us. His radical position in turn on this theme, the law of gender identity and safe, secure, and free abortion, impedes us from being optimistic in this respect.” In addition, he added, “The fact that the works of Francisco I have lived the last two and a half years in a country with Egalitarian Marriage and the fact that none of the catastrophes that he predicted have occurred, stand to change his negative position on the laws of equality. At least he will no longer be able to argue from a lack of knowledge since clearly Argentina is a country with more rights, peace, strengthened families, and diversity after the Law of Marriage Equality and the Law of Gender Identity. Finally, he mentioned “beyond the personal convictions, the Church continues to hold a specific weight with great strength in global public opinion and in the decisions of many countries. It would be positive if the Vatican, at the hand of Bergolio, changed its positions and finally signed the UN Declaration against the penalization of homosexuality.”