Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna.

The Pope is “shocked” by Malta’s Civil Unions Bill allowing gay adoption, Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna told The Sunday Times of Malta.

Defending his decision to use his Christmas homily to reiterate that a family had to be built around a man and a woman, Mgr Scicluna said he had aired these concerns with Pope Francis when he met him on December 12.

“I had a meeting with the Pope and he was quite shocked by the issue of civil unions and gay adoptions in Malta,” Mgr Scicluna said.

“We discussed many aspects... and when I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop [the right for gay couples to adopt] he encouraged me to speak out.”

In his homily, Mgr Scicluna said: “In the upbringing of his beloved son, God himself... chose to be subjected to the wisdom and law of creation... a baby should be reared by a mother and father... not by a couple made of woman and woman or a couple made of man and man.”

When Parliament reconvenes in the New Year, MPs will continue discussing the Civil Unions Bill, which plans to give same-sex couples the same rights and duties as married couples, including adoption. The Bill has passed the second reading and is now at a committee stage where the law’s individual clauses will be debated.

Delivered to the congregation gathered for Christmas Mass at the Mdina Cathedral, Mgr Scicluna’s homily sparked a debate on social media where the timing and message were questioned.

Reacting, Malta Gay Rights Movement coordinator Gabi Calleja described the homily’s timing as “appalling”; Christmas was really all about family but instead the bishop chose to talk about the “destruction of families”.

Gay rights group says timing ‘appalling’

Ms Calleja referred to a survey carried out in May showing that 38 per cent of lesbian households in Malta already included children so a homily like this would have been painful for such families in the congregation.

“The Church has a right to its opinion but the government has to legislate for the whole of society. Instead of spreading a message of acceptance and reaching out to diverse family forms he chose to spread a message of hate,” she added.

Some on social media also drew a contrast between Mgr Scicluna’s message and the Pope’s merciful tone – when questioned about gays his reply has been, “who am I to judge?” – as well as his recent counsel to the Church to shake off its obsession with teachings on homosexuality, among others.

However, Mgr Scicluna is quick to point out that when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 2010 he had accused Argentina’s same-sex marriage Bill of being “Satan’s work to destroy God’s plan”.

He had also asserted that gay adoption was a form of discrimination against children.

When I raised the issue that’s worrying me as a bishop he (the Pope)encouraged me to speak out

The Pope repeated a similar message to Mgr Scicluna earlier this month.

“I said Holy Father they’re quoting you now, and not as Cardinal Bergoglio from 2010, but he reiterated that gay adoptions are ‘un rigresso antropologico’ [an anthropological regression]... I have to say the Pope himself was quite shocked,” Mgr Scicluna said.

Explaining the message behind his homily Mgr Scicluna said it was not about the rights of gays but the rights of children.

“The Pope also said Christmas is not a myth or a fairy tale; that we have to face the reality. This is what inspired my homily,” he said.

“Who is going to stand and talk about the rights of the baby? What will the child say when he grows up and is bullied because society is not prepared for this? Who decided I was to be adopted by a man and man, or a woman and a woman?”

The way forward, Mgr Scicluna believed, was for the government to simply remove the section on adoption from the Civil Unions Bill, while stressing that he was referring to legislation and if faced with a vulnerable situation his mission was to be compassionate.

“When I meet people I don’t start from being judgemental as that’s not the gospel’s ethos and that is what Pope Francis is trying to communicate. But when it comes to principles and legislation he’s been very clear.”