In his end-of-year address to the Curia, the governing body of the Catholic Church, the Pope said man needed protecting ''from the destruction of himself'' and that ''an ecology of the human being'' was needed. And the pontiff added that when the Church defended God's creation ''it does not only defend the earth, water and the air ... but [it] also protects man from his own destruction''.

''If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind ... deserves it no less,'' he said.

He defended the Church's right to ''speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected''. Gender theory, which explores sexual orientation and gender identity, could potentially lead to the ''self-destruction'' of the human race by blurring the lines between men and women.

The Pope's comments drew criticism from within church circles and outraged gay groups. A spokesman for the Australia Coalition for Equality, Rod Swift, described them as ''arrant nonsense''. ''It shows the level of desperation in the Catholic Church to try and get its message across, demonising same-sex couples and comparing us to a global man-made environmental disaster. Homosexuality hasn't destroyed humanity up until now and the rate of homosexuality is not increasing or decreasing.''

Catholic commentator and writer Paul Collins, a former priest, said the comments were ''quite out of character for such an intelligent man''. ''It's neither fair nor accurate. Climate change and the destruction of rainforests is something that impacts on everybody. It is the most important issue we are facing. To equate homosexuality with it seems to me to be silly,'' he said.

Dr Collins said the message might have been aimed at homosexual priests within the Vatican itself. ''If he was addressing his comments to them, well, there are better ways to do it.''

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin, but that homosexual acts are. Auxiliary Archbishop for Canberra and Goulburn Pat Power said it was important that people understood the Pope's comments in the context of Catholic teaching which says homosexual people deserved ''respect, compassion and sensitivity''. ''Every sign of unjust discrimination should be avoided.''

The managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jim Wallace, defended the Pope, saying he could ''understand where he is coming from''. ''Without putting other people down, we need to make sure the demands of strident minority groups don't challenge the health of the family in the same way that greed has challenged the health of the environment.'' with agencies