Before his election as Pope, Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio strongly opposed same-sex marriage and the same-sex marriage bill that Argentina senate debated in 2010. As Pope Francis, after his election in 2013, he has repeatedly spoken about the need for the Catholic Church to welcome and love all people regardless of sexual orientation. However, Pope Francis has also had gestures in the opposite direction, such as blessing a gay couple in July 2015 to later have Ciro Benedettini, the Vatican Spokesperson, asserting that in no way is the letter “meant to endorse behaviors and teachings unfit to the Gospel”. Pope Francis also met with Kim Davis (a county clerk who defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples), to which later the Vatican clarified that this meeting "does not endorse Davis’s views." Speaking about gay people in 2013, Pope Francis said, "the key is for the church to welcome, not exclude, and show mercy, not condemnation." He said, "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" "The problem," he continued, "is not having this orientation. We must be brothers." The pope has reiterated the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality, including its position on marriage. Those who act on their homosexuality are in direct conflict with Christian teaching. He has also been outspoken on the need to be compassionate towards LGBT+ people, and was named the Person of the Year by the LGBT magazine "The Advocate". In 2019, Pope Francis reiterated that Catholic teaching states that homosexual tendencies "are not a sin”, but acting upon it is a sin.