Pope says he will not judge gay priests

On Monday, Pope Francis reached out to gays saying he would not judge priests for their sexual orientation during an open and wide-ranging news conference.

“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis asked.

The Pope’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual desires should not be priests. Francis was much more open and said gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten.

Francis made his remarks during a flight back to the Vatican from his first foreign trip to Brazil.

According to reports, Francis was funny and candid. The interview was the Pope’s first news conference and lasted for almost an hour. The pope did not dodge a single question.