Mexico City bishop backs Pope’s support of same-sex civil unions

The Mexican Catholic Church’s top-ranking bishop agreed with Pope Francis’s support of same-sex civil unions.

Cardinal Carlos Aguiar, archbishop of Mexico City, told Reuters he supports the pope’s comments from a documentary that first aired in October. The documentary showed footage from a previously unpublished interview with the pontiff from Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

In the documentary titled “Francesco,” the pope said, “Homosexual people have the right to be in a family, they are children of god” and “what we have to have is a civil union law, that way they are legally covered.”

“I completely agree,” said Aguiar, who is a long-time ally of Pope Francis.

The Vatican issued follow-up remarks after the pope’s comments from the interview went public, noting the pontiff’s position on the matter did not change church doctrine on homosexuality or support for same-sex marriage.

Still, Francis’s comments mark a more inclusive tone than the previous Pope Benedict XVI, who maintained more conservative views than the standing pope.

Despite Aguiar’s agreement with Francis, the bishop has lobbied against abortion rights and same-sex marriage, though he argued parents should never reject their openly gay children.

“That can’t be. It just can’t be,” said Aguiar, agreeing with Francis’s sentiment that same-sex couples have a right to family.

“If they decide as a matter of free choice to be with another person, to be in a union, that’s freedom,” he added.

Mexico has the second-biggest Catholic population after Brazil, as nearly 80 percent of its almost 130 million people are affiliated with the church.