During a private meeting with the then mayor of Rome, Ignazio Marino, in February 2015, the Pope said that the ceremony for the registration at Rome’s city hall in Piazza Campidoglio of 16 same–sex unions celebrated abroad, was “a mistake”. “He used very tough words, telling me it was a mistake”; says Rome’s former mayor in his book “Un marziano a Roma” (A Martian in Rome) which is hot off the press.
The episode Marino was referring to should be interpreted in light of what had happened a few months earlier on the afternoon of 17 October 2014, the penultimate day of the discussions of the first Synod on the family, when the then mayor of Rome had telephoned the Vatican asking to speak to the Pope.
Francis was busy with the Synod discussions when the call came and was passed on by the Pope’s personal secretary. Marino had insisted on personally informing Bergoglio about what was going to happen the following day, in other words that 16 same-sex couples whose marriages were recognised abroad, were going to be registered in Rome’s city hall during a public and solemn ceremony presided over by the mayor.
