All headlines exist to create public interest in reading the article. Headlines are frequently misleading. A more honest, but less interesting headline, might have been “Some people interpret a remark to suggest something the Pope did not actually say.” That happens so often that it would create almost no interest.
There are lots of different ways that legal structures could be created for real needs that don’t fit the ordinary family. For instance, I have a nephew with a package of some disabilities called delayed development. He could not walk until he was almost three and did not speak until four. He is fortunate to have great parents and his mother happens to have a masters degree in speech therapy. After home therapy and some special education classes, he is now in regular classes and is only slightly below average at a public school and just turned 10. He still can be difficult to understand when he speaks, but he understands what he hears. He also has a problem with small muscle control, so he cannot write legibly. His doctor has the same problem, so he can write illegible prescriptions like any other doctor, but could not be a surgeon.
Suppose something happened to his parents. As his uncle, I might get custody of him, or adopt him, but as far as I know there could be a need for him as an adult to get some help that is not a full guardianship. Would the Church be OK with a legal structure where I could purchase joint insurance with my nephew or have a limited power of attorney for finances?
In the US we also have a need for a legal structure that meets the needs of a mentally ill adult. We need something between allowing a mentally ill person to be totally on his own and locked into a state facility. There have been serious tragedies where people close to a mentally ill person knew there was a problem, but they lacked the legal authority to do anything about it.
There is a huge difference between that kind of arrangement and calling a relationship based on sodomy a marriage equivalent.
