Speaking to reporters after closing out a Catholic family rally in Ireland, Francis said: "There have always been gay people and people with homosexual tendencies." Francis was asked what he would tell a father of a child who just came out as gay.
Extreme temperatures across the northern hemisphere this summer have fuelled concerns that climate change is gathering pace, leading dozens of countries to call for greenhouse gas emissions to be cut at a faster rate than planned. Angela Merkel said such calls for swifter cuts to harmful carbon dioxide emissions would be counterproductive.
There were initially around 180 migrants on board when the ship, Diciotti, arrived at Catania, but Rome allowed 27 unaccompanied minors to disembark on Wednesday and a dozen women and men left the boat on Saturday following a request from health authorities. Albania, which is not a member of the EU, was the first to offer safe haven to 20 of the migrants.
Francis said the "failure of ecclesiastical authorities... adequately to address these repellent crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community.
Mediterranean countries long ago adapted their farming practices to little rain, but this year it is the north of Europe confronting a widespread drought that could see farmers having to send much of their herds to slaughter due to a lack of feed.
At least 15 people were killed when a tourist coach crashed along a winding road in west Bulgaria on Saturday, the health ministry said. The accident happened when the coach full of Bulgarian tourists on a visit to a monastery, ran off the road and overturned near the town of Svoge.