The Vatican has rejected France's proposed ambassador allegedly because he is gay, despite him being Catholic and celibate.

France will forgo having an ambassador to Vatican City before the next French presidential elections in 2017 after the Holy See refused to accept diplomat Laurent Stefanini, who is reported as being gay.

Stefanini is widely respected in the Catholic Church and previously worked as France's number two diplomat in Vatican City from 2001 to 2005.

The Holy See's rejection came despite the Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, sending a letter to Pope Francis in support of the French government's choice of ambassador.

The Elysée declined to comment but Libération newspaper quoted an official source saying that after months of trying, the president had stopped seeking to appoint Stefanini.

The appointment of a new ambassador is usually completed within a month and a half; Stefanini was nominated in January but the Vatican is yet to acknowledge it in any way and the government has given up trying to get a response.

"It's dead," a source close to the situation told Libération.

There are consequences for the Vatican, as it will now be left without a French Ambassador while Francois Hollande is in power until at least 2017.