Speaking Saturday at a forum on
Catholic families, Pope Francis said that only heterosexual couples
can form a family.
“It is painful to say this today:
People speak of varied families, of various kinds of family,” but
“the family [as] man and woman in the image of God is the only
one,” Francis is quoted as saying by the ANSA news agency.
The pope also condemned abortion –
using a Nazi comparison – and praised the “sanctity” of women
who forgive their cheating husbands.
“Many women – but even men
sometimes do it [with wives] – wait in silence, looking the other
way, waiting for their husband to become faithful again.” This is
“the sanctity that forgives all out of love,” Francis
said.
On abortion, he said: “In the last
century, the entire world was scandalized by what the Nazis did to
ensure the purity of the race. Today we do the same, but with white
gloves.”
The leader of the world's 1.3 billion
Roman Catholics has previously said “who am I to judge?” about
gay men and lesbians. Most recently, Pope
Francis reportedly told a gay man that God loves him, but he's
also denounced
gender confirmation surgery for transgender people.