Pope Says He Won't Judge Gay Priests

Pope Francis reached out to gays on Monday in a news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip, saying he wouldn't judge priests for their sexual orientation, the Associated Press reports. "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis asked. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis was much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten. Francis' remarks came Monday during a plane journey back to the Vatican from his first foreign trip in Brazil.