Pope Francis told a crowd of 25,000 Sunday that heterosexual marriages are essential for good parenting, Religion News Service reports.

Children need to see their parents work through gender differences, he said. The pope identified differences between men and women as "an integral part of being human," the news service reported.

"Children mature seeing their father and mother like this; their identity matures being confronted with the love their father and mother have, confronted with this difference," Francis said.

His remarks came a day after Rome's gay pride parade where the city's mayor walked alongside thousands of advocates.

Italy is the only Western European county where same-sex marriage and civil unions are still illegal, according to the BBC. Ireland, another overwhelmingly Catholic country, recently became the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote, putting pressure on Italians to follow in their European neighbors' footsteps.

Following Ireland's landmark vote, some Italian politicians said it was time to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples. Laura Boldrini, speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, said on Twitter that being European means recognizing rights. Rosie Scammell, writing for the Religion News Service, noted that marriage and gay adoption remain off the table.

The Advocate, an outlet for LGBT news, reported that the pope's Sunday sermon doesn't mesh with scientific studies on same-sex parenting.

"At a time when so many children across our world lack loving, welcoming homes, it is heartbreaking to hear Pope Francis dismiss a whole swath of potential LGBT parents who continue to prove that they are fully capable of providing safe and nurturing environments," Lisbeth Melendez Rivera said in a statement to LGBT Weekly on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign.

The pope likened a long, heterosexual marriage to good wine, saying complementary gender differences make for a more well-rounded and balanced parenting duo.

"What great richness this diversity is, a diversity which becomes complementary, but also reciprocal," Pope Francis said, according to Religion News Service. "It binds them, one to the other."

-- Melissa Binder

mbinder@oregonian.com

503-294-7656

@binderpdx