"The worst danger"

Pope again warns against gender ideology

During an audience at the Vatican on Friday, Pope Francis once again warned against gender ideology.(Bild: AFP)

During an audience at the Vatican on Friday, Pope Francis once again warned against gender ideology. "It is very important that there is an encounter between men and women, because the worst danger today is gender ideology, which erases differences," he explained.

"I have asked for studies to be carried out on this ideology (gender studies, note) of our time, which erases differences and makes everything the same. To abolish differences means to abolish humanity. Instead, man and woman are in a fruitful tension," said Francis, addressing the participants in the audience.

Complains about the effects of a cold
The Pope is still suffering from the effects of a mild flu, which has forced him to cancel several audiences in recent days. So he asked a member of staff to read the text of his address. "I still have a cold and get tired when I read for a while," Francis said on Friday.

(Bild: AFP)

Pope was briefly in hospital on Wednesday
Francis was briefly in hospital on Wednesday. Immediately after the general audience in the Vatican Audience Hall on Wednesday morning, he was taken in his white Fiat 500 to the Gemelli Clinic on the Tiber Island in Rome.

What are gender studies?

Gender theory or gender studies refers to an interdisciplinary field of science that examines the relationships between the sexes. The focus is on questions of hierarchy, difference, roles and stereotypes between and about genders. Gender is not viewed exclusively in biological terms, but also as a cultural imprint.

Shortly afterwards, he left the hospital again by car. This is said to have been a planned examination appointment at the hospital. Last Saturday, the Vatican announced that 87-year-old Francis had a "mild flu". Several private audiences were subsequently canceled.