Besides being the first Jesuit pope, and the first pope born outside of Europe, he is also the first pope to have ever approved of gay civil unions.
From the link below:
Francis, the first Cardinal from the Western Hemisphere to be elected as a successor of St. Peter, is being painted as a staunch conservative and traditionalist, mostly in Europe and the United States.
I have been saying from the first moment, that such reports are inaccurate, based on Bergoglio’s record.
Since Wednesday, March 13, when the former Cardinal Bergoglio received the majority of votes in the Conclave and became Francis– I immediately began to report on his background, providing detailed information, which shows Bergoglio’s betrayal of sacred and non-negotiable Roman Catholic traditions and teachings.
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Bergoglio’s biographer, Sergio Rubin, wrote a special report in the aforementioned edition of Clarín, outlining (on page 8) how Bergoglio had shrewdly approached the issue of gay marriage, by taking a “moderate” approach in support of homosexual civil unions– and instructing his peers to do the same. The Episcopate of Argentina (the equivalent of the USCCB) opposed him– and Bergoglio was forced to confront the issue.
~PattyRP