POPE FRANCIS HAS lamented that children are being taught at school that gender can be a choice.

Francis said: “Today, in schools they are teaching this to children — to children! — that everyone can choose their gender.”

The pope said he wanted to conclude his remarks by reflecting on this: “We are living a moment of annihilation of man as image of God.”

Francis weighed in with his view on gender in a privately held meeting with bishops from Poland during his pilgrimage there last week. The Vatican released a transcript today of those closed-door remarks.

“Ideological colonising”

Without specifying, he blamed this on textbooks supplied by “persons and institutions who donate money”. The pope blamed what he called “ideological colonising” backed by “very influential countries” which he didn’t identify.

Speaking about one such “colonisation” he said: “I’ll say it clearly with its first and last name – is gender.”

The “colonisation” theme is one he has railed against before, including during an Asian pilgrimage in 2015.

This time, though, he volunteered that he has discussed the gender issue with Benedict XVI, who has lived at the Vatican since retiring in 2013.

“Speaking with Pope Benedict who is well, and has a clear mind, he was telling me: ‘Holiness, this is the epoch of sin against God the Creator, He’s intelligent! God created man and woman, God created the world this way, this way, this way, and we are doing the opposite,’” Francis told the Polish bishops Wednesday shortly after his arrival in Krakow at the start of a five-day pilgrimage.

Francis’ ended by telling the Polish bishops he wanted them to reflect on this:

“We must think about what Pope Benedict said: ‘It’s the epoch of sin against God the Creator.’”

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