For director and actor Olivia Wilde, the dream of the Venice International Film Festival was woven into the fabric of her new film, “Don’t Worry Darling.”.

(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)ROME – The Vatican says Pope Francis’ comments on gay civil unions were taken out of context in a documentary that spliced together parts of an old interview, but still confirmed Francis’ belief that gay couples should enjoy legal protections. The Vatican secretariat of state issued guidance to ambassadors to explain the uproar that Francis’ comments created following the Oct. 21 premiere of the film “Francesco,” at the Rome Film Festival. A week before the premiere, when he was asked about the civil union comments, Afineevsky told The Associated Press that he had two on-camera interviews with the pope. In comments to journalists after the premiere, he claimed that the civil union footage in question came from an interview with the pope with a translator present. It turned out, Francis’ comments were taken from a May 2019 interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa that were never broadcast.

Pope Francis, right, greets bishops at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary Francesco, which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. A source in Mexico said the Vatican, which used its own cameras to shoot the interview and provided raw footage to Televisa afterward, had deleted the civil union quote in question. After the anecdote ends, the film cuts to Francis’ civil union comments in the Televisa interview. As pope, Francis had never come out publicly in favor of legal protections for civil unions, and no pontiff before him had, either.

Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary Francesco, which premiered Wednesday, Oct. 21 2020 at the Rome Film Festival. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered,” Francis said. But a source in Mexico familiar with the interview said the original raw footage the Vatican provided to Televisa from the interview did not include the quote on civil unions. The civil union comments caused a firestorm, thrilling progressives and alarming conservatives, given that official Vatican teaching prohibits any such endorsement of homosexual unions. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of legal protections for civil unions as pope, and no pontiff before him had, either.

Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary Francesco, which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of civil unions as pope, and no pontiff before him had, either. “The pope’s statement clearly contradicts what has been the long-standing teaching of the church about same-sex unions," he said in a statement. Wim Wenders did that in the 2018 film “Pope Francis: A Man of His Word.”“Francesco,” is more a visual survey of the world’s crises and tragedies, with audio from the pope providing possible solutions. Instead, Rubin said, Bergoglio urged his fellow bishops to lobby for gay civil unions.