Christians are called to bring hope to those going through dark times, especially families who are threatened by ideologies prevalent in today’s world, Pope Francis said.

The Pontiff has frequently condemned “new theories of gender” as an ideology that corrodes the traditional understanding of sexuality and family life and he has been trenchant in criticising international aid to developing countries when it is conditional on accepting such new ideologies.

Addressing the Schonstatt Fathers, who were in Rome for their general chapter, the pope urged them to be “bearers of a message of hope in these dark situations that people in every stage of life are going through.”

“Today, there are many marriages in crisis, young people tempted, the elderly forgotten, children suffering,” he said. “We often see that the nature of the family is under attack by various ideologies, which shake the foundations that support the personality of the human being and, in general, society as a whole.”