Pope Francis on the plan to vatican from his first foreign trip to Brazil (photo:EPA)

The Argentinean Pontiff has a more appeasing approach on gay issues than his predecessor.

On his plane back to the Vatican from his foreign trip in Brazil, Pope Francis said that he’s not in the position to judge gay priests.

While Benedict the XVI expressed his opposition of men with deep- rooted homosexuality to become priests, the new pope said that homosexual clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten.

 “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” the pontiff asked, posing the rhetorical question to reporters in an hour- and- a- half news conference.

He said Catholic social teachings orient us not to marginalize gay people but instead, to treat them with dignity.

Pope Francis on the plan to vatican from his first foreign trip to Brazil (photo:AP)

His papacy just began last March, but Pope Francis has already shown remarkable aptitude in not only preaching the teachings of the Church but  being a living example of the institution he heads.