Fresh off a weekend jollification (Adventist-rated mind you) about Brexit, I was just informed of the Pope's words over homosexuality--again. Here they are:

Pope Francis said on Sunday that Christians and the Roman Catholic Church should seek forgiveness from homosexuals for the way they had treated them.

Speaking to reporters aboard the plane taking him back to Rome from Armenia, he also said the Church should ask forgiveness for the way it has treated women, for turning a blind eye to child labor and for "blessing so many weapons" in the past.

In the hour-long freewheeling conversation that has become a trademark of his international travels, Francis was asked if he agreed with recent comments by a German Roman Catholic cardinal that the Church should apologize to gays.

Francis looked sad when the reporter asked if an apology was made more urgent by the killing of 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida this month.

He recalled Church teachings that homosexuals "should not be discriminated against. They should be respected, accompanied pastorally."

He added: "I think that the Church not only should apologize ... to a gay person whom it offended but it must also apologize to the poor as well, to the women who have been exploited, to children who have been exploited by (being forced to) work. It must apologize for having blessed so many weapons."

"We Christians have to apologize for so many things, not just for this (treatment of gays), but we must ask for forgiveness, not just apologize! Forgiveness! Lord, it is a word we forget so often!" he said.

Francis has been hailed by many in the gay community for being the most merciful pope toward homosexuals in recent history and conservatives have criticized him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality.

This statement appears to emulate his July 29, 2013 statement on gay priests.

I wonder if the Pope is knackered from his trip to Armenia. The chap is either completely barmy, or a bit of a bender himself.

ChurchMouse