Aboard the Papal Plane (CNN) Pope Francis said Sunday that Christians owe apologies to gays and others who have been offended or exploited by the church, remarks that some Catholics hailed as a breakthrough in the church's tone toward homosexuality. 
 
 "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," Francis said at a press conference aboard the papal plane returning from Armenia. 
 
 "The Church must ask forgiveness for not behaving many times -- when I say the Church, I mean Christians! The Church is holy, we are sinners!" 
 
 As he often does during unscripted moments -- particularly papal news conferences -- the Pope spoke expansively, saying the church should seek forgiveness for a number of historical slights committed in its name. 
 
 Groundbreaking Moment 
 
 "I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended," he added, "but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons." 
 
 The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at large of America magazine, called the Pope's apology to gays and lesbians "a groundbreaking moment." 
 
 "While St. John Paul II apologized to several groups in 2000 -- the Jewish people, indigenous peoples, immigrants and women, among them -- no pope has ever come close to apologizing to the LGBT community. And the Pope is correct of course. First, because forgiveness is an essential part of the Christian life. And second, because no group feels more marginalized in the church today than LGBT people." 
 
 The Pope's comments came in response to a question about a German Cardinal who said the Catholic Church should apologize for being "very negative" about gays. The Pope was also asked whether Christians bear some blame for hatred toward the LGBT community, as horrifically demonstrated in the Orlando massacre at a gay night club that killed 49 people on June 12. 
 
 Repeating the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church about respecting and not discriminating against gays, Pope Francis said that one could condemn certain behavior. 
 
 "One can condemn, but not for theological reasons, but for reasons of political behavior...Certain manifestations are a bit too offensive for others, no? 
 
 "But these are things that have nothing to do with the problem. The problem is a person that has a condition, that has good will and who seeks God, who are we to judge? And we must accompany them well." 
 
 'Immense Blessing' 
 
 Francis first uttered that rhetorical question -- Who am I to judge gay people? -- in 2013, also during a news conference on the papal plane. His comments were hailed as a breakthrough for a church that has historically condemned homosexuality, often in harsh terms. Francis has not changed church doctrine that calls homosexual acts sinful, but he has shown a more merciful approach to people on the margins, including gays and lesbians. 
 
 Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic gay rights group, called the Pope's remarks "an immense blessing of healing." 
 
 "No pope has said more welcoming words to LGBT people than when Pope Francis today offered his recommendation that the Church -- indeed all Christians -- should apologize for the harm religious traditions have caused to LGBT people. The pope's statement was simple, yet powerful, and it fell from his lips so easily." 
 
 As is often the case, the Pope's press conference encompassed a number of controversial questions. Here are the Pope's answers about Brexit, former Pope Benedict XVI and why he used the word "genocide" to describe the murder of more than 1 million Armenians in the early 20th century. 
 
 Brexit 
 
 "For me, unity is always superior to conflict, but there are different forms of unity and also brotherhood. and here I come to the EU -- brotherhood is better than enmity or distance and bridges are better than walls. 
 
 "The step which the EU has to take to recover the strength of its roots is a step of creativity and healthy 'separation;' that is, to give more independence, more freedom to the countries of the EU, to think of another form of union, to be creative in jobs, in the economy..." 
 
 "There is something that is not working in that unwieldy union, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater, let's try to jump-start things, to recreate .. today the two key words for the EU are creativity and fecundity." 
 
 Genocide 
 
 Pope Francis said that while Turkey has, "a right to protest," he has always used the word genocide, since his time in Argentina, and again last year quoting John Paul II so "it would have sounded very strange," he said, not to use it again. 
 
 "In Argentina, when you spoke about the extermination of Armenians, one always used the word genocide. I did not know another word ... When I came to Rome, I heard the other words, 'The Great Evil' and the Armenian term which I do not know how to say, and they told me that ... using 'genocide' is offensive, that you have to say something else. I have also spoken about three genocides of the last century, always three, first the Armenian, then Hitler, and the last one is Stalin." 
 
 "After I heard the tone of the President's speech and also with my past with this word, which I uttered last year in St. Peter's publicly, it would have sounded very strange not to say the same word." 
 
 Two Popes? 
 
 In response to a question about whether there are two Popes in the Vatican, a story which had received headlines recently because of a comment by Pope Benedict's personal secretary who said that the Pope Emeritus was part of an "expanded papacy," Francis said, "There is only one Pope." 
 
 "[Benedict] is the Pope Emeritus, the wise grandpa. He is the man who guards my back with his prayers." ||||| Image copyright EPA Image caption Pope Francis, flanked by Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, addressed journalists on the flight back from Armenia 
 
 Pope Francis has said that the Roman Catholic Church should apologise to gay people for the way it has treated them. 
 
 He told reporters that the Church had no right to judge the gay community, and should show them respect. 
 
 The pontiff also said the Church should seek forgiveness from other people it had marginalised - women, the poor, and children forced into labour. 
 
 The Pope has been hailed by many in the gay community for his positive attitude towards homosexuals. 
 
 But some conservative Catholics have criticised him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality. 
 
 Speaking to reporters on his plane returning from Armenia, the Pope said: "I will repeat what the catechism of the Church says, that they [homosexuals] should not be discriminated against, that they should be respected, accompanied pastorally." 
 
 Pope Francis said the Church should seek forgiveness from those whom it had marginalised. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption The Pope and Armenian patriarch Catholicos Karekin II released doves of peace near Mt Ararat 
 
 "I think that the Church not only should apologise... to a gay person whom it offended but it must also apologise 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 apologise for having blessed so many weapons." 
 
 In 2013, Pope Francis reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not. 
 
 "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" he said then. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Pope Francis speaking to journalists about the EU: "Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water" 
 
 In other remarks on Sunday, the Pope said he hoped the European Union would be able to recover following the UK's decision to leave. 
 
 "There is something that is not working in that bulky union, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, let's try to jump-start things, to re-create," he said. 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Thousands of Armenians travelled to see the Pope during his visit 
 
 During his visit to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the Pope described the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman Turkish rule in World War One as "genocide". 
 
 Turkey has always disputed the numbers killed and angrily rejects the term "genocide". 
 
 In response, Turkish deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli said the Pope's comments were "very unfortunate" adding it was "possible to see all the reflections and traces of crusader mentality in the actions of the papacy". 
 
 The Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, later told reporters: "The Pope is on no crusade. He is not trying to organise wars or build walls but he wants to build bridges. He has not said a word against the Turkish people." ||||| Updated 1:53 p.m. ET 
 
 ABOARD THE PAPAL AIRCRAFT 
 
 Pope Francis reached out to gays, saying he won't judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference Monday as he returned from his first foreign trip. 
 
 "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis asked. "We shouldn't marginalize people for this. They must be integrated into society." 
 
 Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, signed a document in 2005 that said men who had deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis was much more conciliatory in his first news conference as pope, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten. 
 
 The comments did not signal any change in church policy. Catholic teaching still holds that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered." But they indicated a shift in tone under Francis' young papacy and an emphasis on a church that is more inclusive and merciful rather than critical and disciplinary. 
 
 Asked for comment, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told CBS News that the pope was "for sure" not just referring to gay priests, but to all gays. 
 
 Lombardi said this did not represent a change in church teachings. As Pope Francis pointed out himself in his answer, the church's catechism teaches that gays are to be accepted and welcomed, not discriminated against. Lombardi pointed out that during the press conference the pope specifically confirmed church teachings on abortion and female ordination. 
 
 The thing that was different here, Lombardi said, was the pope's attitude, which puts mercy, forgiveness and understanding "in the forefront." 
 
 Francis also said he wanted a greater role for women in the church, though he insisted that they cannot become priests. 
 
 He was funny and candid during the 82 minutes he spent with journalists on board the plane returning from Brazil. He didn't dodge a single question, and even thanked the journalist who raised allegations contained in an Italian news magazine that one of his trusted monsignors was involved in a gay tryst. 
 
 Francis said he investigated the allegations according to canon law and found nothing to back them up. 
 
 He took journalists to task for reporting on the matter, saying the allegations concerned matters of sin, not crimes like sexually abusing children. And when someone sins and confesses, he said, God not only forgives  but forgets. 
 
 "We don't have the right to not forget," he said. 
 
 The directness of Francis' comments suggested that he wants to put the matter of the monsignor behind him, while also setting a new tone of openness as he focuses on his key priority of reforming the Holy See bureaucracy. 
 
 Francis was also asked about reports suggesting that a group of gay clergymen exert undue influence on Vatican policy. Italian news media reported this year that the allegations of what they call the "gay lobby" contributed to Benedict's decision to resign. 
 
 The term "gay lobby" is bandied about with abandon in the Italian media, and is decidedly vague. Interpretations of what it means have ranged from the benign concept of a group of celibate gay priests who are friends, to a suggestion that a group of sexually active gay priests use blackmail to exert influence on Vatican decision-making. 
 
 Stressing that Catholic social teaching calls for homosexuals to be treated with dignity and not marginalized, Francis said he would not condone anyone using private information for blackmail or to exert pressure. 
 
 "A lot is written about this `gay lobby. I still haven't found anyone at the Vatican who has `gay' on his business card," Francis said, chuckling. "You have to distinguish between the fact that someone is gay and the fact of being in a `lobby."' 
 
 The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit author and commentator, saw the pope's remarks as a sign of mercy. 
 
 "Today Pope Francis has, once again, lived out the Gospel message of compassion for everyone," he said in an emailed statement. 
 
 Speaking in Italian with occasional lapses in his native Spanish, Francis dropped a few nuggets of news: 
 
 -He said he is thinking of traveling to the Holy Land next year and is considering invitations from Sri Lanka and the Philippines as well. 
 
 -The planned Dec. 8 canonizations of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII will likely be changed  perhaps until the weekend after Easter  because road conditions in December would be dangerously icy for people from John Paul II's native Poland traveling to the ceremony by bus. 
 
 -And he solved the mystery that had been circulating since he was pictured boarding the plane to Rio carrying his own black bag, an unusual break from Vatican protocol. 
 
 "The keys to the atomic bomb weren't in it," Francis quipped. The bag, he said, contained a razor, a prayer book, his agenda and a book on St. Terese of Lisieux, to whom he is particularly devoted. 
 
 "It's normal" to carry a bag when traveling, he said, stressing the style that separates him from other pontiffs, who until a few decades ago were carried around on platforms. "We have to get use to this being normal." 
 
 3 million show up for pope's final Mass in Brazil 
 
 Pope Francis arrives in Brazil 
 
 Francis certainly showed a human touch during his trip to Rio, charming the masses at World Youth Day with his decision to forgo typical Vatican security so he could to get close to his flock. Francis traveled without the bulletproof popemobile, using instead a simple Fiat or open-sided car. 
 
 "There wasn't a single incident in all of Rio de Janeiro in all of these days and all of this spontaneity," Francis said, responding to concerns raised after his car was swarmed by an adoring mob when it took a wrong turn. 
 
 "I could be with the people, embrace them and greet them  without an armored car and instead with the security of trusting the people," he said. 
 
 He acknowledged that there is always the chance that a "crazy" person could get to him; John Paul II was shot in 1981. But Francis said he preferred taking a risk than submitting to the "craziness" of putting an armored wall between a shepherd and his flock. 
 
 Francis' news conference was remarkable and unprecedented: Pope John Paul II used to have on-board talks with journalists, but he would move about the cabin, chatting with individual reporters so it was hit-or-miss to hear what he said. After Benedict's maiden foreign voyage, the Vatican insisted that reporters submit questions in advance so the theologian pope could choose three or four he wanted to answer with prepared comments. 
 
 For Francis, no question was off the table  no small thing given that he is known to distrust the mainstream news media and had told journalists en route to Rio that he greatly dislikes giving interviews because he finds them "tiresome." 
 
 Francis spoke lovingly of his predecessor, saying that having him living in the Vatican "is like having a grandfather, a wise grandfather, living at home." He said he regularly asks Benedict for advice, but dismissed suggestions that the German pontiff is exerting any influence on his papacy. 
 
 On the contrary, Francis said he has tried to encourage Benedict to participate more in public functions at the Vatican and receive guests, but that he is "a man of prudence." 
 
 In one of his most important speeches delivered in Rio, Francis described the church in feminine terms, saying it would be "sterile" without women. Asked what role he foresees, he said the church must develop a more profound role for women in the church, though he said "the door is closed" to ordaining women to the priesthood. 
 
 He had harsh words for Monsignor Nunzio Scarano. The Vatican accountant has been jailed on accusations that he plotted to smuggle euro20 million ($26 million) from Switzerland to Italy and is also accused by Italian prosecutors of using his Vatican bank account to launder money. 
 
 Francis said while "there are saints" in the Vatican bureaucracy, Scarano isn't among them. 
 
 The Vatican bank has been a focus of Francis' reform efforts, and he has named a commission to look into its activities amid accusations from Italian prosecutors that it has been used as an offshore tax haven to launder money. 
 
 Asked if closing the bank is a possibility, Francis said: "I don't know how this story will end." 
 
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– It was quintessential Pope Francis: On a plane journey back from a foreign trip on Sunday, the pontiff made a statement that once would have been considered jaw-droppingly radical. In a response to a reporter's question, Francis said the church should apologize for offending and discriminating against gays over the years, the BBC reports. "I believe that the church not only should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended," he said, "but has to apologize to the poor, to exploited women, to children exploited for labor; it has to ask forgiveness for having blessed many weapons." Francis stressed that when he says "the church," he means Christians. "The Church is holy, we are sinners!" he said. Francis—who made waves three years ago when he asked: Who am I to judge gays?—has been hailed by gay rights groups for his groundbreaking statements, though he has reaffirmed church policy that actually having gay sex is sinful, the BBC notes. The pope was on his way home from Armenia, where he once again enraged Turkish authorities by describing the mass killing of Armenians a century ago as genocide, reports CNN. He also addressed Britain's vote to leave the EU, saying that while "something ... is not working in that unwieldy union" and EU countries should be given more independence to creatively deal with their problems, "let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater."