Hong Kong’s newly appointed bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung, 71 pledged to speak out for Hong Kong’s underprivileged after he was sworn in by Pope Francis last week, but reiterated that he stood by Catholic teachings that homosexuality is a sin.

As auxillary bishop in 2015, he faced criticism for comparing homosexual behaviour to drug abuse.

On Wednesday, he claimed he was misquoted and reiterated that the church would love gay people even though it did not accept homosexuality, according to the South China Morning Post.

“Maybe that was really a bad example. I said maybe your son is a drug addict, do you love him still? Yes , you still love him ... The only thing I haven’t really said very clearly [was that] homosexuality was not like that,” Yeung told the South China Morning post.

He said if a Catholic said he or she was a homosexual, he would teach them what the bible said.

Yeung went on to say: “The church is not a political party. However, when facing some problems that affect the whole society, like human rights, justice, openness and accountability, I think the church must stand up to speak.”