SIMON ROMERO EMILY SCHMALL
In 2010, Argentina was on the verge of approving gay marriage, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio led the public charge against the measure. But behind the scenes, in a meeting of bishops, he advocated a highly unorthodox solution: that the church in Argentina support the idea of civil unions for gay couples.
The concession, which at the time inflamed the gathering, offers a telling insight into the leadership style he may now bring to the papacy.
Few would suggest that Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, is anything but a stalwart who fully embraces the church's positions on core social issues. But as he faced one of the most acute tests of his tenure as head of Argentina's church, he showed another side as well, supporters and critics say: that of a deal maker willing to compromise and court opposing sides in the debate, detractors included.
The approach stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who spent 25 years as the church's chief doctrinal enforcer before becoming pope, known for an unbending adherence to doctrinal purity. Francis, by comparison, spent decades in the field, responsible for translating such ideals into practice in the real world, sometimes leading to a different approach.
"The melody may be the same, but the sound is completely different," Alberto Melloni, the director of the liberal Catholic John XXIII Foundation for Religious Science in Bologna, Italy, said of the two.
Faced with the near certain passage of the gay marriage bill, Cardinal Bergoglio offered the civil union compromise as the "lesser of two evils," said Sergio Rubin, his authorized biographer. "He wagered on a position of greater dialogue with society."
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