Vatican City 2013 papal election

[Lurker]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/world/americas/pope-francis-old-colleagues-recall-pragmatic-streak.html?hp

Apparently Bergoglio tried to convince the rest of the Argentine bishops to accept civil unions instead of going total opposition when Argentina was moving to legalize gay marriage in 2010.

I really think he's going to be pretty much the best pope we could have reasonably hoped for.

If this is true it makes his rabid reaction to gay marriage seem quite strange. Gay marriages are part of Satan's plan to destroy families - but civil unions are ok? Quite an unusual point of view, I would think.