“Being homosexual is not a crime.
It's not a crime, yes, but it's a sin," AFP quotes him as saying.
The pontiff called for a distinction between sin and crime.
In December, US President Joe Biden signed into law a law recognizing same-sex marriage in the United States.
Speaker of the State Duma of Russia Vyacheslav Volodin said that the legalization of same-sex marriage at the federal level in the United States will lead to the degeneration of the American nation.