Pope Francis has said that the children
of gay couples and divorced parents are the Catholic Church's new
challenge.
The pontiff made his remarks in a
speech to the Catholic Union of Superiors General in November. The
Italian Jesuit magazine La
Civilta Cattolica on Saturday published extracts from the
speech.
“Education today is a key, key, key
mission!” the pope said.
The Holy Father recalled some
experiences of children who live in complex situations in Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
“I remember the case of a very sad
little girl who finally confided to her teacher the reason for her
state of mind: 'my mother's girlfriend doesn't like me.' The
percentage of children studying in schools who have separated parents
is very high. The situation in which we live now provides us with
new challenges which sometimes are difficult for us to understand.
How can we proclaim Christ to these boys and girls? How can we
proclaim Christ to a generation that is changing?”
“We must be careful not to administer
a vaccine against faith to them,” he added.
La Civilta Cattolica replaced
the word “girlfriend” with “fiance” in its English version.