BUENOS AIRES (CNN) — Less than an hour after he sent Catholic Church leaders in Argentina a letter in 2010 criticizing the way they were handling the debate over same-sex marriage, 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 at a meeting they scheduled soon afterward was even more surprising, after months of public criticisms from church officials of a push to legalize same-sex marriage in the South American country.
“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.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio was one of the leaders of the Catholic Church’s public charge against legalizing same-sex marriage in Argentina. He engaged in a notorious war of words with the government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, which supported the measure.
Francis put himself right 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.
Bergoglio may have voiced his support for civil unions in other circles.
According to a story published by The New York Times on Wednesday, he also told bishops at a 2010 meeting that the church should support civil unions for gay couples.
CNN could not independently confirm the report.
A senior Vatican official said he could neither confirm nor deny the 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.
Argentina approved a law legalizing same-sex marriage 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 dialogue, just as he appeared to be several years ago in Buenos Aires.
“We are going to try to have a dialogue with the pope,” Marquez said. “It’s frightening, but I think it must be done.”
