Pope Francis prayed for the victims of the terrorist attack on an Istanbul airport that claimed 41 lives. He also asked that God would “convert the hearts of the violent.” Earlier in the week at a Vatican ceremony, Francis made a rare joint appearance with his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
The event was meant to mark the 65th anniversary of Benedict’s ordination as a priest. But the ceremony was also aimed at putting to rest recent questions about the roles played by the current and former pope, with Francis insisting that there is indeed only one pope.
Just before the unprecedented ceremony, Pope Francis created controversy when he told reporters that the Catholic Church owed gays, women, and the poor an apology. Aboard a plane taking him back to Rome from Armenia, Francis said “homosexuals should not be discriminated against” and repeated a slightly modified version of his now-famous “who am I to judge?”
