In a first, Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions during an interview and said that homosexual people deserve the right to be a part of a family, Associated Press reported. He said this in an interview for a feature-length documentary “Francesco”, which premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday.

“Homosexual people have the right to be in a family. They are children of God,” the Pope said during the interview, according to AP. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

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In the documentary, Francis also talked about the issues he cares about the most, including the environment, poverty, migration, victims of discrimination and racial injustice.

The comments regarding homosexual civil union came from him for the first time after he became the Pope. During his tenure as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis had endorsed same-sex civil unions as an alternative to homosexual marriage.