TORONTO — After hosting a Copacabana Beach slumber party for a flock of three million, Pope Francis held an impromptu press conference on-board his plane, Shepherd One, on Monday saying he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation.
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis said.
Francis’ acceptance of the possibility of gay priests is a departure from his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who wrote in a Vatican document that men with homosexual tendencies or supporters of the so-called ‘gay culture’ should not become priests.
However, Francis’ comments did not indicate a change in policy or that homosexuality would no longer be an intrinsic violation of the Church — only that gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten.
While some viewed the comment as a shift in tone for the Church under the pontiff’s young rule, others noted it was just a minor step for an authority that has long encouraged anti-gay sentiment.
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