Right: Pope Tawadros II Source: www.sbs.com.au

The Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, weighed in on same-sex marriage, minutes after he arrived for a historic visit in Australia on Wednesday, SBS reported. 

The Pope is currently "on a 10-day pastoral tour during which he'll meet Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and various other leaders, as well as meeting the local Coptic community."

In recent weeks there has been an intense debate over same-sex marriage in Australia, ahead of a national marriage survey. 

This is probably why Tawadros was asked to weigh in on the matter. 

In his response, the Pope took a strong stand against same-sex marriage, saying that according to the scriptures of the Holy Bible: "There is no - at all - same sex marriage." 

"Therefore this marriage is completely refused from the Christian faith," he added.

"When God created man and woman and for them the first family was made by man and woman. This is not acceptable and it is considered as a sin. It's sin," he stressed. 

During the press conference held at Sydney airport last week, Pope Tawadros II also "spoke about the importance of unity in Egypt and the message of love between the different churches."

Pope Tawadros II, who was ordained in 2012, was greeted by a queue of bishops and priests upon his arrival at the Airport. 

They came to welcome him to the country and "demonstrate the support of Australia's Coptic community which is the third largest outside of Egypt."

Various Christian authorities have similar stances on same-sex marriage

Pope Tawadros' comments are direct and clear when it comes to his faith's opposition to same sex marriage. 

Over the years, other schools of the Christian faith have also issued similar stances on the matter. 

For years, Pope Benedict XVI stood against same sex marriages and labeled them "a threat to global peace." 

Now while Pope Francis seems to be leading the Catholic church into an era that's more accepting when it comes to LGBT issues, in a publication issued in 2016 he also took a similar stand against same sex marriage. 

"There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar to or even remotely analogous to God's plans for marriage or family," he wrote in "The Joy of Love," - a church document on love, marriage, and divorce.