Pope Francis: Church should apologize to gays, other marginalized groups

Pope Francis said Sunday that gay people and others who have been marginalized by the Christian church deserve an apology.

"I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended, but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor," he said. "It has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons." The pontiff made his remarks aboard a plane on his way back to the Vatican from Armenia, after he was asked by a reporter if he agreed with comments made by one of his advisers, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who following the deadly shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando said the church owes an apology to gays.

"The Church must say it is sorry for not having behaved as it should many times, many times — when I say 'the church,' I mean we Christians because the church is holy; we are the sinners," Francis said. "We Christians must say we are sorry."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up