Pope Francis does not support a controversial children's book that promotes homosexuality, the Vatican clarified on Friday after the media interpreted as papal endorsement a letter to Francesca Pardi, the Italian author of "Piccolo Uovo," sent by one of the Pope's staff members.
In "Piccolo Uovo," which means "Little Egg," Pardi writes about an egg that comes across a pair of gay penguins and lesbian rabbits raising a family. Other characters in the book are a single-parent hippo, a mixed-race dog couple, and kangaroos that adopted polar bear cubs.
Fr. Ciro Benedettini, deputy director of the Holy See Press Office, explained that it is only common for the Vatican to respond to letters it receives from people from all walks of life.
Benedettini added that the letter from Vatican to Pardi was meant to be "a private response, and for this reason it was not intended for publication."
The Vatican official also maintained that Christian views on homosexuality and same-sex couples remain unchanged "as the Holy Father reiterated many times."
"The Secretariat of State does not want in any way to back behaviours and teachings not in accordance with the Gospel," Fr. Benedettini said.
Pardi earlier sent to Vatican copies of her controversial book, which has been banned in some Italian schools.
Upon receiving a copy of the book, Peter Wells, a senior official at the Vatican secretariat of state, wrote back to Pardi.
"His Holiness is grateful for the thoughtful gesture and for the feelings which it evoked, hoping for an always more fruitful activity in the service of young generations and the spread of genuine human and Christian values," Wells said in his letter to Pardi.
Benedettini nevertheless explained that interpreting Pardi's letter from the Vatican as a papal endorsement on same-sex couples is completely "out of place," noting that "the blessing is for the person [Pardi] and not for (any) teaching against the Doctrine of the Church on gender ideology."
