Pope Francis I, the first Latin American to become pope, has been outspoken against LGBT marriage equality and adoptions. (Photo: Reuters/Enrique Marcarian)
BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS
Washington Blade
The College of Cardinals on Wednesday elected Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio as the Catholic Church’s next pope. Bergoglio, who took the name Francis I, was born in Buenos Aires to an Italian immigrant father in 1936. He is also among those who led the opposition to Argentina’s same-sex marriage law that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed in 2010.
“As he begins his papacy, we request that Pope Francis make one of his top priorities the re-evaluation of the Catholic hierarchy’s approach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues,” Francis DiBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry in Mount Rainier, he said, referring to Francis’ statements against same-sex marriage and adoption rights for gays and lesbians. “We hope that in his new office, he will have the wisdom to hear all sides of these complex issues and that he will inject pastoral messages into his statements.”
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