"God made you like that and he loves you like that" - Pontiff tells gay man

Huffington Post reports that these two met last month in Chile to discuss the sex abuse and cover-up scandal involving Catholic priests including Fernando Karadima.

"He told me, 'Juan Carlos, the fact that you're gay doesn't matter. God made you like that, and he loves you like that, and I don't care,'"Cruz said as he recounted the two-and-half-hour conversation with the pontiff in Spanish newspaper El Pais.

He continued: "They had told [Francis] that I was practically a pervert. I explained that I'm not the reincarnation of San Luis Gonzaga, but I am not a bad person, I try to not harm anyone."

The pontiff responded, he said, by telling him, "The pope loves you [as you are], you have to be happy with who you are."

Cruz also noted that he and the others were treated well during the meeting which held at Casa Santa Marta, the residence used by the pope at the Vatican.

"The pope treated us like kings in Santa Marta and the bishops as children," Cruz was quoted as saying. "It is clear that he believed us."

The Los Angeles Times reports that a representative at the Vatican has refused to confirm or deny the pontiff's remarks saying,"We don't normally comment on the pope's private conversations."

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Pope Francis on homosexuality

This is not the first time the Holy Father has displayed a tolerant and open attitude towards gay people.

"If someone is gay and is looking for the Lord, who am I to judge him? You should not discriminate against or marginalize these people," he was quoted saying in 2013.

"A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: 'Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?'" This was his statement in an interview with American Magazine later that year.

Statements like these have caused people to describe him as a liberal pope who offers some hope for the church.

"This is a big deal, I cannot remember the pope making a comment about gay people being born that way. Pope Francis has repeated what all reputable biologists and psychologists say - you don't choose your sexual orientation. And that is a great comfort to many gay and lesbian Catholics who have been told by priests that they have chosen their orientation and are therefore guilty," the Rev. James Martin, an American priest told the LA Times.

Christopher Lamb, the Vatican correspondent for the Catholic newspaper Tablet, told The Guardian that "It goes beyond 'who am I to judge?' to 'you are loved by God.' I don't think he has changed church teaching but he's demonstrating an affirmation of gay Catholics, something that has been missing over the years in Rome."

Despite Pope Francis's statements on homosexuality over the years, the Catholic Church's catechism remains unchanged on the subject.

Homosexual acts are described as "contrary to natural law. Under no circumstances can they be approved," the catechism reads.