Aboard the papal plane, Jun 26, 2016 / 14:24 pm
In a wide-ranging inflight press conference on his way back from Armenia on Sunday, Pope Francis responded to a question on recent comments made by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who said the Church must apologize to homosexual persons for having "marginalized" them.
Francis agreed that the Church ought to apologize in cases of discrimination against individuals struggling with same-sex attraction, and referred to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which emphasizes the need to accompany and respect these persons.
"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," the Pope said June 26 on board his return flight from Armenia to Rome.
The problem is "a person that has a condition," he said, but, echoing his comment on the way back from Rio de Janiero in 2013, noted that that if the person "has good will and who seeks God, who are we to judge?"