Pope stresses importance of ‘traditional’ families

Pope Francis appeared to bow to pressure from Catholic conservatives when he backed the importance of the traditional family to children.

He said that children have the right to grow up with a mother and a father, emphasising traditional family values as he opened an interreligious conference on the “complementarity” of men and women in marriage.

The three-day conference opened just weeks after Francis presided over a divisive meeting of the world’s bishops who split on issues such as gay unions and divorced and remarried Catholics.