Pinerolo: Two former Catholic nuns have registered a same-sex civil union in northwest Italy after they fell in love and renounced their vows, media reports said.

“God wants people to be happy and to live their love openly,” Turin-based daily La Stampa quoted one of the ex-nuns named Isabel as saying.

La Stampa quoted the other partner, Francesca, as saying: “We call on our Church to welcome all people who love each other.”

The civil union ceremony took place on September 28 in Pinerolo on the outskirts of Turin and was conducted by the town’s mayor, Luca Salvai, a member of Italy’s grassroots Five Star movement.

La Stampa described the couple as two 44-year-old former Franciscan Sisters, who met on a pilgrimage three years ago. Isabel is from Latin America, and Federica is from Italy, according to the daily.

Gay activists on Tuesday lodged a complaint with prosecutors and police against a Catholic mayor in Favria on the outskirts of Turin who refused to officiate a civil union between two men.

Serafino Ferrino, refused to conduct the civil union, claiming they were morally “wrong” and that many Italian mayors agreed with him.

The Gay Centre rights group said it was taking action against all town and city councils who don’t apply the legislation which legalised same-sex partnerships in Italy earlier this year.

Italy’s parliament voted civil unions – including same-sex partnerships – into law in May after the government won a confidence motion on the fiercely debated bill.

Italy was the last in Western Europe to adopt such reforms and the legislation was heavily diluted due to staunch opposition from the Catholic Church, Catholic groups and conservative Catholic politicians as well as divisions within the ruling center-left Democratic Party, canindia.com reported.

Italy approved same-sex civil union four months ago.

Even though the Italian Catholic Church and Pope Francis were strongly opposed to the civil union legislation, the Bill was overwhelmingly approved by parliament last May, 372-51. Those in favor repeatedly pointed out that Italy was the only country in western Europe that did not recognize either same-sex marriage or some form of civil union.

Both former nuns said this week that even “if we have left the convent, we haven’t left the church, we haven’t forgotten our faith.”