Pope Francis Gay Views Flip Flopped? In 2013 Pope Won't 'Judge' Gay Priests, But In 2010 Decried Gay Marriage As A 'Move By The Devil'

Pope Francis told reporters aboard a plane that ferried him home to Rome from Rio de Janeiro that he wouldn't judge gay priests during an hour-and-a-half press conference. "If a person is gay, seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" Francis said. "They should not be marginalized." But those who are awaiting a sea of change on the Catholic church's position on same-sex marriage might be advised not to hold their breath. In 2010, as Argentina debated a same-sex marriage bill, the pope denounced the proposition as a "destructive attack on God's plan" and a "move by the devil" and called adoption by parents of the same sex "a form of discrimination and abuse against children."

The pope, then known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, wrote that year in a leaked letter to a group of Carmelite nuns that the same-sex marriage bill was putting "at risk the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children."

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"It puts at risk the lives of many children who will be put at an immediate disadvantage by being deprived of the human nurturing which God meant to be given by a father and a mother. It's a direct rejection of the law of God, as engraved in our hearts," he wrote.

"Let's not be naive: this is not a simple political fight; it is a destructive attack on God's plan. This is not a mere legislative proposal (this is just its way of getting it across), but a 'movement' by the father of lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God... Let's look to St. Joseph, Mary, and the Child to ask fervently that they defend the Argentine family in this moment... May they support, defend, and accompany us in this war of God."

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The law passed anyway with the support of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, with whom the pope often clashed during his time as cardinal. In doing so, it became the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage and gay adoption. Since then, only one other country in the region has followed with a similarly sweeping measure: in Uruguay, President Jose Mujica has signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage which will pass into law on August 1. Colombia and Ecuador recognize civil unions; Brazil does, too, and may soon recognize same-sex marriage as well.