Pope says Christians should 'accompany' transgenders but fight 'gender theory indoctrination'

Pope Francis recently highlighted the distinction between accompanying homosexuals and fighting against the "indoctrination of gender theory."

The pope spoke about the subject of gender theory during a press conference aboard the Papal plane on his way to Rome after his visit to Azerbaijan and Georgia, Crux reports. At the conference, the pope was asked by a journalist about how to accompany a person struggling with sexual identity.

"First of all, I've accompanied in my life as a priest, a bishop, and even as pope, people with homosexual tendencies or even homosexual practices, I've led them closer to the Lord," he replied.

The pope added that although he felt that there are some who cannot get closer to the Lord, he was never compelled to abandon them. "When a person who has this condition gets in front of Jesus, Jesus won't say 'leave because you're homosexual,'" the pope said.

While he was in Georgia, the pope described gender theory as a "global war against the family." When he was asked about the remark at the press conference, he narrated his experience of talking with a French man who had a 10-year-old child who wanted to become a woman.

"The dad remembered that in the schoolbooks they taught gender theory. And this is against natural things," the pope explained.

Pope Francis made the distinction between those who have the tendency to lean toward homosexuality and the teachings in school that is meant to change minds. "This is what I call ideological colonization," he said.

The pope also described another case in which a woman underwent sex reassignment surgery to become a man. He said that he received a letter from the woman and referred to the person as a "he who was a she, but is a he."

The pope said that the woman and her partner were pleased when he met with them. Their meeting took place in January 2015 after the woman, now known as Diego Neria Lejarraga, wrote to him about being rejected from her parish after her sexual reassignment surgery.

Pope Francis spoke of an old priest who was more accepting of Lejarraga and a young priest who was harsh.

The pope requested to the media not to say that he will sanctify transgender people. He clarified that it is a human problem that needs to be resolved with God's mercy.