Pope on Gays

(Community Matters) Reuters, “Pope says gays must not be judged or marginalized” 

Politico Playbook: TOMORROW’S FRONT PAGE TODAY – “Pope says gays must not be judged or marginalized,” by Reuters’ Philip Pullella in Rome : “Pope Francis, in some of the most conciliatory words from any pontiff on gays, said they should not be judged or marginalised and should be integrated into society, but he reaffirmed Church teaching that homosexual acts are a sin. In a broad-ranging 80-minute conversation with journalists on the plane bringing him back from a week-long visit to Brazil, Francis also said the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on women priests was definitive, although he would like them to have more leadership roles in administration and pastoral activities. He expressed pain over scandals at the Vatican bank during a remarkably forthright press conference, his first since being elected in March to replace Benedict XVI, who became the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. Francis said there were saints in the Holy See but also ‘those who are not very saintly.’ The airborne encounter with journalists ranged over issues as varied as the pope’s insistence on low-key security to his desire to slip out of the shackles of the Vatican to go for walks.”