Pope Francis approves of discipling kids through spanking, but not demeaning them

Pope Francis said last week that there is nothing wrong with parents disciplining their children by spanking them.

The Roman Catholic leader however emphasized that this form of discipline should be done without demeaning kids.

"I once heard at a wedding a father say, 'I sometimes have to hit my children a little but never in the face, so as to not demean them.' How nice, I thought, he has a sense of dignity. When he punishes, he does it right and moves on," Pope Francis, as quoted by CNN.

The Pope added that aside from maintaining the dignity of children, parents should also make sure that they forgive their kids after spanking them.

"A good father knows how to wait and knows how to forgive from the bottom of his heart. Of course he can also discipline with a firm hand: he's not weak, submissive, sentimental," Pope Francis said.

He also maintained that parents should know "how to discipline without demeaning" and to "protect without restraint."

Pope Francis made these statements during his weekly general audience at the St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. This week, he focused on the role of fathers in the family.

In a report published by The New York Times, Reverend Thomas Rosica of the Vatican press office explained that the Roman Catholic Church's position on corporal punishment should not be understood as a support for violence or cruelty towards children.

Rosica explained that spanking should be understood in the context of "helping someone to grow and mature."

"To infer or distort anything else ... reveals a greater problem for those who don't seem to understand a pope who has ushered in a revolution of normalcy of simple speech and plain gesture," the priest said in The New York Times report.