The following is an excerpt from Pope Francis' new memoir, "Life: My Story Through History".
"Civil unions are another matter, and on this subject I have said on many occasions that it is right that these people who experience the gift of love should have the same legal protections as everyone else. Jesus often met and spent time with people who lived on the margins of society, who lived in the existential peripheries, and that is what the Church should be doing today with members of the LGBTQ+ community, who are often marginalized within the Church: make them feel at home, especially those who have been baptized and are in every respect among God's people. And those who have not been baptized and would like to be, or who would like to be godfathers or godmothers: let them be welcomed, please; let them follow a careful pathway to personal discernment."