Pope Francis: It's OK to spank kids, just don't humiliate them

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The public should not read too much into Pope Francis' apparent endorsement of spanking in an address on the role of fathers, a spokesman said.

The pope talked about corporal punishment during a general audience Wednesday at the Vatican.

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

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, said the pope was speaking "as a pastor and loving father figure who loves children and wants the best for them."

"It's about time that we stop and allow the pope to speak the language of most ordinary people, especially parents, who understand the pope far better than those who parse every single word and statement that comes out of his mouth," Rosica told CNN.

In his address, Francis said children's dignity must be preserved.

"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," he said.

Jared Pingleton, a minister and clinical psychologist with the conservative evangelical group Focus on the Family," told USA Today he generally agrees with Francis' words. But he acknowledged the "many controversial and deeply related emotional issues" on corporal punishment.

"Discipline comes from the root word disciple, to teach, and punishment is angry, often out of control, motivated by emotional activity," Pingleton said.