Pope Francis: 'Every Person Needs a Male Father and Female Mother'

May 23, 2014

Although Pope Francis was praised for his "who am I to judge?" comment about gay individuals and was named Person of the Year by the homosexual magazine The Advocate in 2013, the Pope has rejected the idea of same-sex marriage as an "anthropological regression" and stressed that when it comes to adoption, "every person needs a male father and a female mother."

Pope Francis explained his views on these hot-button issues in his book, On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, which he co-wrote with Rabbi Abraham Skorka in 2010 and which was republished after the then-Argentine cardinal was elected to the papacy in March 2013.

"If there is a union of a private nature, there is neither a third party nor is society affected," he writes. "Now, if the union is given the category of marriage and they are given adoption rights, there could be children affected."

"Every person needs a male father and a female mother that can help them shape their identity," says Pope Francis.