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Pope Francis: Who am I to judge gay people? Pope Francis: Who am I to judge gay people?
(35 minutes later)
Pope Francis has said gay people should not be judged or marginalised. Pope Francis has said gay people should not be marginalised but integrated into society.
Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Brazil, he said: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?" Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Brazil, he reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not.
The Pope's remarks are being seen as much more conciliatory than his predecessor's position on the issue. "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?"
Turning to the issue of women priests, he said the Church had spoken and had said "no", but the role of women should not be restricted. He also said he wanted a greater role for women in the Church, but insisted they could not be priests.
"We cannot limit the role of women in the Church to altar girls or the president of a charity, there must be more," he said in a wide-ranging 80-minute long interview with Vatican journalists. The Pope arrived back in Rome on Monday after a week-long tour of Brazil - his first trip abroad as pontiff - which climaxed with a huge gathering on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach for a world Catholic youth festival.
Five months after he took over from Pope Benedict, he said gay people should be fully accepted in society, even though the Catholic teaching was that homosexual acts were sinful. Festival organisers estimated it attracted more than three million people.
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well," Pope Francis said. His remarks on gay people are being seen as much more conciliatory than his predecessor's position on the issue.
Pope Benedict XVI signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests.
Pope Francis said gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten.
Gay 'lobbying'
"The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well," Pope Francis said in a wide-ranging 80-minute long interview with Vatican journalists.
"It says they should not be marginalised because of this but that they must be integrated into society.""It says they should not be marginalised because of this but that they must be integrated into society."
But he condemned what he described as lobbying by gay people.But he condemned what he described as lobbying by gay people.
"The problem is not having this orientation," he said. "We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem.""The problem is not having this orientation," he said. "We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem."
On the role of women in the Church, he said: "We cannot limit the role of women in the Church to altar girls or the president of a charity, there must be more.
"But with regards to the ordination of women, the Church has spoken and says no... That door is closed."
Answering questions about the troubled Vatican bank, he said the institution must become "honest and transparent" and that he would listen to advice on whether it could be reformed or should be shut down altogether.
"I don't know what will become of the bank. Some say it is better that is a bank, others that it should be a charitable fund and others say close it," he said.