Pope Francis has confirmed his stand on teaching gender identity classes in schools, by calling them a "war on marriage".
The 66th and current Pope of the Roman Catholic Church returned to Rome after a three-day trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan on Sunday, October 2. During his meeting with the press, he recounted a meeting with a French father, who spoke about his young son that wanted to be a girl after reading about gender identity in his school textbook.
Pope Francis said that having feelings of transgender nature is one thing, but to seed these thoughts in young minds is against nature. "It is one thing when someone has this tendency ... and it is another matter to teach this in school," said the Pope, before adding that he refers to these classes as "ideological colonisation".
The Pope did clarify that he spends time with transgender people and helps them grow closer to God. However, he has been vocal about his opinions regarding teaching gender identity theory.
"Today, in schools they are teaching this to children -- to children! -- that everyone can choose their gender," Pope Francis had said back in August.
Regardless of these remarks, Pope Francis is one of the most liberal and progressive pope the Catholic Church has ever seen. He had even demanded earlier this year that the Church apologise to the LGBT community for all the wrongdoings against them over the years.
