Father Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, claimed the pope had not wished specifically to attack people with homosexual inclinations, and had not mentioned gays or lesbians in his text. Father Lombardi insisted that there had been an overreaction to the pope's remarks: "He was speaking more generally about gender theories which overlook the fundamental difference in creation between men and women and focus instead on cultural conditioning." Nevertheless, the remarks were interpreted as a call to save mankind from homosexuals and transsexuals.