>> this is "dw news" life from berlin. tonight, the catholic church, gays, and love. pope francis says he supports same-sex marriage. germany's health minister has tested positive for covid-19 and his self-isolating at home. did he pose a threat to the chancellor earlier?

plus, defiance after a deadly crackdown. gunshots as demonstrators came out onto the streets despite a curfew after a peaceful protest was broken by shooting, allegedly by nigern police forces. and paying tribute to the history teacher who was killed outside his school last week. i'm brent goff. two viewers on pbs in the united states and all of you around the world, welcome. it is a major shift in the catholic church. pope francis says he supports civil union laws to protect the

rights of same-sex couples. he made the comment in a new documentary about the pontiff which premiered today. the statement marks a decided shift for the roman catholic church. the film also tackles controversial issues such as racism, climate change, sexual abuse, and relations between christians, muslims, and jews. earlier, i asked our religious affairs analyst what exactly did the pope say. >> that it was the responsibility of societies to pass legislation to protect the rights of people in same-sex unions. this is groundbreaking. it is explosive, and centura, really the most provocative thing he has done since he was elected pope and went back to

the hotel to pay his own hotel bill -- it is explosive, ewincendiary. people are saying the church will change its teaching on homosexuality and the possibility of homosexuals marrying in the church -- i think that is too far with expectations that are too high. brent: i can imagine that in poland, for example, or africa, where you see more conservative views, that this attitude will not be appreciated, but perhaps in north america, it will. >> i don't think iwill cree a new cleavage. the cleavage is there. the catholic chuh is really split. people talk about conservative and liberal groups. i think that is misleading. there are really two basic ways of looking at the church. francis represents one, and his

predecessors, pope john the first, pope john paul ii, and benedict the 16th, are all somewhat inward looking. they were pedaling as fast as they could, against the stream, kept trying to turn things back. the catholic church has a kind of myth that it doesot chang but of course, it does. francis is the first pope, really, who has takenhe teaching seriously and wants the church tgo out into the world and engage with the world where it is. brent: he has been signaling ever since he became the pope that this is what he's been thinking. he's been saying things about not condemning gays. we know one of his closeriends , for example, is a gay man in

the u.s. whom he visited with. the signals have been there of acceptance and love. were you surprised by the news today? >> no, i think it is yet another baoon thate is sending out. he has to be careful about changing church teaching. as i said, the catholic church continues the kind of myth that it does not change its teaching. let -- it lets things fall by the wayside that it does not want to teach anymore, but he has to carry the church with him, and it's difficult too this at the moment. if you were to change church teachingn homosexuality, for example, overnight, it would create a president. he's already 83 and will be succeeded by another pope pretty soon, and if he did that, he would create a precedent that the next pope could reverse

pretty soon. brent: a significant piece of news for the catholic church today. thank you. germany's health minister has tested positive for the coronavirus. he immediately went into self-isolation and is reportedly experiencing cold-like symptoms. the announcement came hours after he attended a cabinet meeting with german chancellor angela merkel. as health minister, he's is a prominent figure in your many's efforts to control the coronavirus. we want to go straight to our political correspondent who is following the story for us tonight. it's good to see you. the health minister tested positive just after attending a cabinet meeting that included the german chancellor. is there concern now the entire cabinet could be infected? >> we can imagine that all those who have been in close contact

with the health minister might get tested soon, but we also got a statement from the health minister's press secretary highlighting the fact that he has been compliant with the rules, so there's no need for a person to quarantine if they were present at the meeting. the chancellor immediately went into quarantine after her doctor tested positive shortly after giving her vaccine shot. within the health ministry, for now, he will probably continue working for isolation. he also tweeted that he only suffered from mild, cold-like symptoms, and he will be not meeting with anyone. he has been a leading figure behind the chancellor for the government's response to the pandemic, so this is a setback,

but there's also no reason to believe this will disturb the country's governance and handling of the pandemic. brent: thank you. here's a look at some of the other developments in the global pandemic. spain is become the first western european country to record one million coronavirus infections, doubling its tally in just six weeks. astrazeneca and oxford university say there vaccine trial will continue, despite the death of a volunteer in brazil. regulators say there are no concerns about the safety of the brazilian trial. russia's president, vladimir putin, said he is not planning to impose any blanket restrictions to contain the pandemic. his comments come as russia reported a record new daily death toll from the virus. tonight, the security situation in nigeria's second largest city appears to be deteriorating with

reports of buildings on their, roadblocks, and protesters defying a curfew to demonstrate on city streets. the unrest follows the violent crackdown on protesters. unconfirmed reports suggest 12 people were killed by gunshots at a protest yesterday. [gunfire] >> more shots fired at protesters, and this despite the global outrage following tuesday's shooting of peaceful demonstrators in the nigerian capital. military forces had reacted to protesters defying a curfew by turning the streetlights off and shooting into the crowd, killing and wounding dozens. >> there are those trying to trigger war.

it was very bad, military men shooting at protesters. >> protesters have spiraled over the past two weeks. they were initially triggered by anger at police brutality, especially by abuses carried out by a notorious anti-robbery squad, but beyond the problem of police violence, nigerian youth are calling for sweeping changes, and end to sweeping corruption, and widespread unemployment. >> we are not lazy youth. we are trying to work hard. >> the last couple of days of violence have made waves beyond nigeria's borders. demonstrations of support by the large nigerian diaspora were held in london and south africa on wednesday. numerous stars have also begun speaking out.

>> from london and far away, your voices are definitely being heard, so keep on pushing. keep on striving. >> i cannot keep quiet any more on what is going home back home in nigeria. i say to the government, you guys are a shame to the world. >> as some buildings, including a television station, lay in flames today, nigeria remains a tender box of deep economic and social grievances -- nigeria remains a tinderbox of deep economic and social grievances. >> i'm joine by a spokesman from amnesty international nigeria. it's good to have you on the program. we have violence against protesters. security forces in the country

say that's not true. do you have edence to the contrary. >> we as an organization have conducted a on the ground investigation, and our investigation has confirmed that the government is not telling the truth when it says there were no casualties as a result of the shooting into the crowd of protesters that took place yesterday. we have been able to confirm that protesters died down the incident -- in the incident, and the number could be higher than what we know, but th's been what we have been able to confirm from speaking with eyewitness, analyzing video footage. all this confirms that between 6:45 p.m. yesterday at 9:00 p.m., the nigerian military open fire on peaceful people calling

for an end to police brutality. whatever the government says does not reflect the facts on the ground. brent: you are saying you can confirm 12 people were shot dead last night by security forces. do you trust the government at all to investigate this incident? >> if you a an average nigeria is question, the answer would be no, and tt is also the reason why the protests have continued even after the government made verbal promises to try to reform the police. the government says many things every time, and many times, these words are not followed by actions. like an average nigerian, we do not necessarily trust that the government will investigate.

we continue to call on them. a government that will investigate will first admit that there were deaths. this government has said there were no casualties. a government that is serious about meeting the demands of protesters would start by admitting truly there were casualties, but the government has denied that. hunt: the government denies that this happened and you say people in nigeria do not trust the government. we've had reports that there have been more gunfire this evening. is there a danger this will escalate and we will see tensions rise even further in nigeria? >> there has always been that fear that if the government fails to hdle the situation like this in the way it is supposed to handle it, of course, we might have on our

hands and escalating situation. to this point, if the government refrained from making promises it was not willing to keep the protesters, so there are definitely fears the situation might escalate, so we are asking the government to step in and do all it can within the bounds of the law to arrest the situation before it escalates further. brent: we appreciate your time and insights tonight. thank you. >> thank you very much. it was my pleasure to be here. brent: here's a quick summary of some of the day's other headlines. thailand's prime minister says he will end a state of emergency that was imposed in bangkok to suppress antigovernment demonstrations. it's the seventh consecutive day of protests. protesters on the government to resign, they want a new constitution, and they want

reforms. the maker of oxycontin will plead guilty to charges as part of an $8 billion settlement. purdue pharma is accused of illegal conduct related to distribution of the drug. it has been linked to 470,000 deaths in the u.s. german authorities say a fatal knife attacke on and earlier this month is being treated as islamic terrorism. a 20-year-old syrian was taken into custody on tuesday in connection with the attack. france is holding a national tribute to samuel patty -- samuel spady -- samuel paty, the teacher who was killed last week. he was killed five days ago

after showing cartoons of the prophet mohammed during classes on a lesson of freedom of expression. the suspected perpetrator, an 18-year-old chechen refugee, was shot by police. for more no, we are joined by our correspondent in paris. good evening to you. today, a national day of communion held all over the country. there is a memorial ceremony were ever you are, at the sorbonne. what can you tell us? >> earlier this evening, the french president held a very emotional speech, very personal. he said that the teacher was one of those teachers you will never forget, that he was one of those teachers whose -- who taught students how to think for themselves, how to be critical, like citizens here in france, and micron also said that samuel

paty is now the face of france. as i looked around, i could see ny peoplmae eath irsn eir eyes being moved, and after the speech, they clapped. aty's family. ent: