“Today, there is a global war to destroy marriage,” Pope Francis told the Catholic community gathered to hear him speak.
While speaking at the Church of the Assumption in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, he told the congregation to be careful of global war against marriage.
A woman present at the gathering asked if the Pope thought schools should address the issue of gender.
“You mentioned a great enemy of marriage: gender theory,” Francis reportedly responded. “Today you do not destroy with weapons, you destroy with ideas,” he added. “It is ideological colonization that destroys.”
The Pope also called marriage “”the most beautiful thing that God has created.”
The Pope then transitioned into speaking out against divorce because it mars what God created. He cited Genesis 2:24 which talks about a husband and wife being joined together as one flesh through marriage.
“Do you know who pays the cost of divorce?” he asked. “Both people, and even more, God pays because when you divorce … you dirty God’s image.”
Although the Pope condemned divorce, he also acknowledged that there are some cases where it is acceptable. He also encouraged the Church to welcome and support divorced individuals.