Pope Francis' reported comments to a gay man have been embraced by the LGBT community as another sign of the pontiff's desire to make them feel welcomed and loved in the Catholic Church.
Juan Carlos Cruz, the main whistleblower in Chile's clerical sex abuse and cover-up scandal, says he spoke to Francis about his homosexuality during their recent meetings at the Vatican.
The pope had invited Cruz and other victims of a Chilean predator priest to discuss their cases last month.
Cruz said he told Francis how Chile's bishops used his sexual orientation as a weapon to try to discredit him, and of the pain the personal attacks had caused him.
"He said, 'Look Juan Carlos, the pope loves you this way. God made you like this and he loves you,"' Cruz said.
The Vatican declined to confirm or deny the remarks in keeping with its policy not to comment on the pope's private conversations.
The comments first were reported by Spain's El Pais newspaper.
Church teaching says gays should be respected, loved and not discriminated against, but considers homosexual activity "intrinsically disordered."
However, Francis has sought to make the church more welcoming to gays, most famously with his 2013 comment "Who am I to judge?"
He also has spoken of his own ministry to gay and transgender people, insisting they are children of God, loved by God and deserving of accompaniment by the church.
As a result, some commentators downplayed the significance of the comments to Cruz, saying they merely were in line with Francis' pastoral-minded attitude and not in any way a challenge to current doctrine.
Australian Associated Press
