Pope Francesco said - in a message published on Saturday - that people who criminalize homosexuality are "wrong" in an attempt to clear up his previous comments about homosexual practices being a "sin".
Francesco, 86, said in an interview with the Associated Press published Wednesday that homosexuality "is not a crime (...) it is a sin."
In the letter published Saturday and addressed to the American Jesuit priest James Martin, the Pope said he wanted to make it clear in the interview that (homosexuality) is not a crime, "in order to confirm that criminalizing it is neither good nor just."
He also wrote, "When I said it was a sin, I was simply referring to the Catholic moral teaching that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin."
Since his appointment in 2013, Francesco has often sparked controversy from his liberal stances on sexual orientation, and he had defended - in a documentary about his life broadcast in 2020 - the right of homosexuals to form a family, saying that they are "children of God."
His message was translated from Spanish into English and published by the "Outreach" website, which publishes articles and information that may benefit Catholics who are called the "LGBT" community.
It is being edited by the American priest Martin, who had sent a letter to the Pope asking him for clarifications of his previous comments.
"I will tell anyone who wants to criminalize homosexuality that they are wrong," Francesco wrote.
"I should have said it is a sin, like every sexual act outside of marriage," he added.
The pope's comments come ahead of a tour scheduled for next week in Africa, where homosexuality is widely criminalised.