ROME — Pope Francis has teamed up with the scandal-ridden Walt Disney Company to produce a docu-drama in which he says using dating apps like Tinder is “normal” while insisting “the true Church is on the peripheries.”
The 83-minute Spanish-language documentary titled “The Pope Answers” features conversation between the pontiff and ten young people and was released on April 5 on the Disney+ streaming platform.
In the dialogue, the pope answers questions on contemporary issues such as sexual identity, feminism, abortion, migration, abuse, loss of faith, racism, the role of women and more. The young people are all Spanish speakers between the ages of 20 and 25, hailing from Spain, Senegal, Argentina, the United States, Peru, and Colombia.
The documentary, which was filmed in June 2022 in Rome’s Pigneto district, touches on a number of the pope’s favorite themes, such as immigration.
Speaking of repatriation of illegal migrants, Francis noted that “this happens today, it happens at the borders of Europe, and sometimes with the complicity of some authorities who send them back.”
“There are countries in Europe — I don’t want to name them so as not to create a diplomatic incident —that have small towns or villages that are almost empty, countries where there are only twenty old people and unfarmed fields,” he said. “And these countries, which are experiencing a demographic winter, do not even welcome migrants.”
During the conversation, a Spanish girl named Celia tells the pope that she is non-binary and Christian, explaining that “a non-binary person is one who is neither man nor woman, or, at least, not all the time,” and goes on to ask if there is room in the Church for sexual and gender diversity.
“Every person is a child of God, every person,” he answers. “God does not reject anyone, God is Father. And I have no right to expel anyone from the Church. Not only that, my duty is always to welcome. The Church cannot close the door to anyone. To no one.”
The Walt Disney Company has come under fire for sexually grooming young people, a practice that Disney officials have publicly admitted.
In a 2022 video call, Disney executive Latoya Raveneau bragged about her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” and her ongoing campaign to place LGBT couples and innuendo in Disney’s animated movies.
In the same call, President of Disney General Entertainment Karey Burke said the company’s goal is to have at least 50 percent of new Disney characters be either LGBT or minorities by the end of the year.
Back in 2014, CNN published an investigative report revealing that at least 35 Disney employees had been arrested for sex crimes against children, attempting to meet minors for sex, and possession of child pornography over the prior eight years.
Last year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation intended to dissolve Disney’s special tax and governing jurisdiction in Florida after Disney CEO Bob Chapek pledged to oppose the state’s Parental Rights in Education Law.
The legislation DeSantis signed will eliminate the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which has existed for 55 years as a vehicle for Disney to govern itself within the state. Florida established Disney’s special tax district in 1967 after Walt Disney asked the Florida Legislature for more control over the development of Walt Disney World.
“You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re gonna marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state. We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that,” DeSantis said in reference to Disney’s battle against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law.