Pope Francis shares message of love with gay man: ‘God made you like this -- God loves you like this’

A gay man over the weekend said that Pope Francis told him that God made him the way he was -- and said that his sexuality "does not matter" in God's eyes.

Via CNN, sexual abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz says that the pope made the comments to him while he was staying at the Vatican to discuss being abused at the hands of a Catholic priest.

When the topic of his sexuality came up, Cruz said that the pope did not condemn him for being gay or try to convince him to seek treatments to become heterosexual.

"You know Juan Carlos, that does not matter," Cruz said, paraphrasing what the pope told him. "God made you like this. God loves you like this. The Pope loves you like this and you should love yourself and not worry about what people say."

The Vatican has declined to comment on the conversation by saying it does not discuss private meetings between the pope and others.