Here what was actually said...
“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis told reporters, speaking in Italian but using the English word “gay.”
Francis’s words could not have been more different from those of Benedict XVI, who in 2005 wrote that homosexuality was “a strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil,” and an “objective disorder.”
It is a profoundly important shift that Pope Francis will not judge gays (just as Christ chose not to do). His predecessor reinforced what he saw as an inexorable connection between homosexuality and intrinsic moral evil (i.e. having forbidden sex, pedophilia, and other forms of sexual abuse). The 'connection' was his judgement of homosexuals, and his leadership led many church leaders and members to make those judgements also. Those who were known to be gay have been shunned, despised and denied participation in church sacraments and ceremonies.
What's important is that the official papal authorization to continue discrimination against gays based on a judgement of their assumed behavior has been removed.
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