Gay groups and activists have reacted angrily after the Pope said that mankind needed to be saved from a destructive blurring of gender.

Controversy

He said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was as important as saving the rainforests from destruction.

The Pope said humanity needed to listen to the "language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman and that behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations was a "destruction of God's work".

Catholic spokesmen have urged the public to read the Pope's remarks – made in an end-of-year speech to senior Vatican staff – in full.

Support

But Free Presbyterian minister the Rev David McIlveen has said he and Pope Benedict XVI share the common fear that homosexuality poses a threat to the continuation of the human species.

However, he stressed that the Free Presbyterian Church comes "from a different angle (to the Roman Catholic Church] with regard to the emphasis we have on the Scripture".

Last night, the Rev McIlveen said: "I think that while we recognise the Pope's position and the sustaining of his Church's position, we would come from a different angle with regard to the emphasis we have on the Scripture.

"I think it is a natural concern about the continuation of the human race.

"Biologically we are not created to be homosexual, we are created to be heterosexual."

The Rev McIlveen said the position expressed by the Roman Catholic Church is "not new".

"One is perhaps a little surprised at the furore it has caused but, nevertheless, I think there is a great deal of sensitivity about whenever the word homosexuality is raised and I think it underlines the insecurity that is found within that community."