Pope Francis has reaffirmed his stance on ‘traditional’ marriage, saying a man and woman married is the ‘masterpiece of society’.

In what is being taken by some as a plea for the US Supreme Court to reject same-sex marriage, the head of the Catholic Church reiterated his view that he believes straight people are the only ones that should marry.

‘Jesus teaches us that the masterpiece of society is the family: the man and the woman who love each other,’ he said in his public speech today (30 April).

While he made no reference to the US, Francis said: ‘In many countries, the number of separations is increasing, while the number of children is in decline.’

‘Christians do not marry only for themselves,’ the pope added. ‘They marry in the lord in favor of all the community, of society as a whole.’

Pope Francis is widely seen as taking a far less judgemental position on homosexuality than his predecessor Benedict XVI, who considered gay people a ‘defection of human nature.’

But the leader of the Catholic Church is still opposed to gay marriage and adoption, and famously earlier this year compared trans people to nuclear weapons.