Pope Francis says gay couples should be legally covered with civil union laws

Pope Francis said in a documentary released Wednesday that homosexual couples should be protected with civil union laws.

“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family,” Pope Francis said in the documentary, titled “Francesco,” according to the Catholic News Agency. “Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it.”

He continued in the documentary about the topic of civil unions for LGBT couples.

“What we have to create is a civil union law,” he said, according to Reuters. “That way they are legally covered. I stood up for that.”

It’s the first time he has endorsed gay civil unions as pope, the Associated Press reported. He endorsed them as “an alternative to same-sex marriages” while he served as archbishop in Buenos Aires, according to the AP.

The documentary will be released in North America on Sunday, the Catholic News Agency reported.

“Pope Francis embraces humanity,” filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky told America Magazine. “That’s what this movie teaches, the importance of being united, of being kind, of spreading love.”

Pope Francis has previously voiced support for the gay community. Last month, he told parents of LGBT children, “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God,” the America Magazine reported.

Last year, he said homosexual tendencies “are not a sin,” Crux Now reported.

Source: Miami Herald