The Vatican — The Pope told a contingent of American bishops from Midwestern states that he rejects the "powerful political currents" that are paving the way for gay marriage in the United States.

"Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage," the Pope told the visitors to the Vatican.

Pope Benedict instructed the bishops to defend straight marriages and families "from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature."

The bishops were told that "defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarities of the sexes and oriented to procreation," Reuters reported.