Vatican corrects declaration on children with homosexual tendencies

The Vatican corrected a statement made by Pope Francis that recommended  "psychiatric" help for children with homosexual tendencies.

Pope Francis waves as drives through the streets of Dublin, Ireland, August 25, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

The Vatican on Monday rolled back on Pope Francis' recommendation that  parents seek psychiatric help for children who show homosexual tendencies.

The pope made the comments to journalists as he was flying back to Rome from Ireland, but the Vatican later removed his phrase from its official account, saying he had not meant to suggest that homosexuality was a mental illness.

Francis was asked by a journalist what he would say to parents who observe homosexual traits in their children.

 "When it shows itself from childhood, there is a lot that can be done through psychiatry, to see how things are. It is something else if it shows itself after 20 years," he said.

 The pope added that ignoring a child who showed homosexual tendencies was an "error of fatherhood or motherhood".

However when the Vatican later published the pope's answer, the reference to psychiatry had been removed.

"When the pope referred to 'psychiatry',", a Vatican spokeswoman told AFP, it is clear that he was doing so to highlight an example of 'things that can be done'. But with that word he didn't mean to say that (homosexuality) was a 'mental illness'," she said.

Francis' trip to Ireland was fraught with controversy amid accusations that he ignored sexual abuse allegations against prominent US cardinal Theodore McCarrick.