Pope Francis rapped for spanking 'howler'

February 07, 2015 01:59

Pope Francis came under fire today after an off-the-cuff remark in which he defended the right of parents to spank their children.

In comments during his weekly general audience on Wednesday, the pontiff described a good father as one who knew how to forgive but also how to "correct with firmness."

"Once, in a meeting with married couples, I heard a father say 'I sometimes have to smack my children a bit, but never in the face so as to not humiliate them'," Francis said.

"How beautiful! He knows the sense of dignity! He has to punish them but does it justly and moves on."

The comment made no waves in Italy but has been severely criticised in Germany, one of several countries which completely outlaws all forms of corporal punishment.

"There is no way of hitting children with dignity," the country's Minister for the Family, Manuela Schwesig says in an interview with Die Welt, due to be published on Saturday.

The German Association for Children's Aid called on the pope to correct his own error.

"This pope is particularly humane, but anyone can make a mistake. By suggesting it is okay to hit a child if it is done with dignity, he completely misses the point."

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