The comments of the Pope were included in 260-page letter to the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. (File Photo)
Pope Francis has opted to maintain the status quo on the Church's approach to homosexuality in a blow to liberals hoping for an opening to gay couples in new guidelines on the family.
"As for proposals to place unions between homosexual persons on the same level as marriage, there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family," reads one of just two paragraphs dedicated to gay issues in the 260-page letter to the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, published today.