The far-right leader of Italy’s Northern League party, Matteo Salvini, who became deputy prime minister in June, expressed vehement opposition to equal marriage and same-sex parents in an interview this week.

As reported by Pink News, when asked about same-sex marriage, Salvini said he will “exercise all possible power” to “defend the natural family founded on the union between a man and a woman”.

The deputy prime minister said he had already expunged gender-neutral terms from government resources as part of his defence of the “natural family”.

“Last week I was told that on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, on the forms for the electronic identity card there were ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2,’ he said.

“I immediately changed the site by restoring the definition ‘mother’ and ‘father.’

“It’s a small thing, a small signal, but it is certain that I will do all that is possible as minister of the interior in any case that is ruled by the constitution.”

Salvini then added, for no apparent reason: “Utero for rent and similar horrors? Absolutely no.”

When the issue of same-sex adoption was raised, Salvini said he would go to every length to ensure that gay couples don’t have the same rights as heterosexual partners.

Salvini’s comments come as Ireland gets ready to host the Catholic World Meeting of Families, from which LGBT-parented families and organisations have been excluded.

Pope Francis, who will attend the World Meeting of Families, said in June that families “are of man and woman”.