Pope Francis defended the right of gay couples to enter into legally recognised civil unions in a documentary that premiered at the Rome Film Festival on Wednesday. "These are children of God, they have the right to a family," Francis says in the film, "Francesco" by Evgeny Afineevsky, speaking in Spanish. "What we have to do is a law of civil coexistence, they have the right to be legally protected. I have defended that," the Argentine-born pope said. ams/har