Christians Should Apologise To People Who Are Gay. Who Are We To Judge- Pope Francis

Pope Francis on Sunday said that Christians owe apologies to gays and others who have been offended or exploited by the church, remarks that some Catholics hailed as a breakthrough in the church’s tone toward homosexuality. He made the comments to reporters as he flew back to Rome from Armenia.

“I repeat what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: that they must not be discriminated against, that they must be respected and accompanied pastorally,” Francis said at a press conference aboard the papal plane returning from Armenia.

“The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times — when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!”

The pope was asked if he agreed with comments by German Cardinal Reinhard Marx that the Church needed to say sorry for the way it has treated the gay community.

“We Christians have to apologise for so many things, not just for this (treatment of gay people), but we must ask for forgiveness. Not just apologise – forgiveness,” he said.

“The question is: if a person who has that condition, who has good will, and who looks for God, who are we to judge?” the pope added.