By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – With the unprecedented resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the quick inauguration of Argentinian bishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio South America rejoices and celebrates the first non-European pope in 700 years. However the ascension of Pope Francis has not been the boon that many activists hoped it would be, with the new pope’s past casting a shadow on the future of the Vatican’s stance on LGBT unions and adoption rights.

Fresh on many people’s minds will be how Pope Francis handles the clergy’s sexual abuse scandals that plagued Pope Benedict and the Vatican administration. With the resignation and litigation of many top cardinals, notably Britain’s Keith O’Brien and Los Angeles’s Roger Mahoy, many speculate whether the new pope will take a harsher stance. The question will become whether Pope Francis will continue to shield many complicit with the child abuse cover-ups or remove them from positions of power.

While Argentinians are naturally ecstatic about the selection, many voicing their opinions in support; many gay and lesbian South Americans are naturally skeptical. While many media outlets have noted statements made during 2010 coming out in favor of same-sex civil unions, this may have been us as a political smokescreen for private statements that may represent his, and the churches true views. During Argentina’s 2010 decision to legalize gay marriage with the Marriage Equality Bill he took a hard stance against it, declaring that all children have the fundamental right to be raised by a father and a mother, and not any “sinful” combination of the two.  However realizing that fighting gay marriage may have been a losing battle he insisting on supporting civil unions, as a way to undercut and prevent the passage of the bill.

Despite his attempt to derail the bill, it passed and allowed gays to adopt children without the three-year waiting period. His response? “Gay parenting is a rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.”

While not quite as adversarial as Cardinal Peter Turkson who supported homophobic legislation in Ghana that could make homosexuality punishable by death, Pope Francis does not represent a much more liberal and progressive stance on the issue. Only time will tell if his support of same sex civil unions was legitimate and whether he will shape the Vatican’s opinions of LGBT rights and marriage in a positive way, or whether it will be more and the same from the Golden City.

For more information, please see:

Mommyish – The New Pope Believes He Is The Authority On How Children Should Be Raised And Educated – 15 March 2013

Al Jazeera – Gay Argentine React To Pope Francis – 14 March 2013

News Vatican – Biography: Who Is Jorge Mario Bergoglio – 13 March 2013

NPR – As Pope Resigns, Clergy Abuse Survivors Remember 2008 Meeting – 27 February 2013

Mommyish – The Hypothetical New Pope Might Actually Be More Gay-Hatey Than The Old Pope – 17 February 2013