(CNSNews.com) -- Pope Francis' recent remarks to the Associated Press that homosexual behavior is "not a crime" but "is a sin" were strongly condemned by the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts because they "will confuse and mislead the faithful" and be presented by the liberal media as "papal affirmation of same-sex relations and the LGBTQ identity."

In a Jan. 24 interview, Pope Francis said in reference to homosexual behavior, "It's not a crime. Yes, but it's a sin. Fine, but let's distinguish between a sin and a crime." He also criticized some bishops who support laws or discrimination against homosexuality, saying, “These bishops have to have a process of conversion."

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts in a press release said the Pope's remarks constitute "a major victory for the homosexual movement, which will be presented to public opinion as papal affirmation of same sex relations and the LGBTQ identity."

"The scandalous, improvident, and un-Catholic remarks of Pope Francis will confuse and mislead the faithful, empower and embolden the opponents of Christian morality, and demoralize and marginalize its defenders," said League Executive Director C.J. Doyle.

"These remarks will, in the long term, have significant adverse effects on the struggle to preserve what remains of moral sanity in Western society and to protect the already circumscribed rights of religious believers," added Doyle. 

Homosexual subversion in the Catholic Church is well-documented, and played a major role in the sexual abuse crisis in the church. Doyle noted that a few days before the Pope's interview, San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy, a pro-LGBTQ cleric and Francis ally, claimed that it was a "demonic mystery" why so many people oppose homosexuality. He also made clear that chuch teaching on the issue must change.  

What the Pope said "repudiates 1,700 years of Christian legal principles," said Doyle. "Beginning in the fourth century AD, all Christian legal traditions---Roman Law, Canon Law, English Common Law and the positive laws of Christian states---have, harkening back to Mosaic Law, treated sodomy as a crime against nature, and have, accordingly, prohibited it, and attached penalties to its practice."

"Unlike Francis, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church understood sodomy to be both a sin and a crime," added Doyle. "The Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas, quotes Saint Augustine's statement that 'Those foul offenses that are against nature should be everywhere and at all times detested and punished....'"

Although the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts condemned the Pope's remarks, it also explained that his "injudicious remarks, opinions offered to reporters during air travel, do not constitute Catholic teaching."

Francis' remarks are not considered infallible. He was not speaking officially from the "Chair of Peter" in union with the bishops of the world.