“It is necessary that knowledge becomes practical through listening and welcoming of the least ones, the fragile ones, and the one who is considered discarded by society,” the pope said in a message to moral theologians today.

This is the second installment of a three-part series of interviews with Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States.

An interview with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, on Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq and what’s next for Vatican diplomacy in the Middle East.

According to three sources, it was significant that Francis called on Christians and the church to give witness to Jesus “not with theoretical condemnations but with gestures of love.”

The Vatican has issued a statement in which it declares that “the church does not have, and cannot have, the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex.” It said Pope Francis “was informed and gave his assent” to its publication.

Pope Francis recalled that when the Christian message first arrived, “You received the joy of the Gospel: the good news that God so loved us that he gave his Son for us. And this joy is evident in your people.”