De Blasio, Inspired by Pope Francis

He refers to Francis’ remark about homosexuality — “Who am I to judge?” — as a “seismic moment,” and has joked to friends that the line was “possibly the greatest quote in Catholic history.”

And he is experiencing a new warmth toward the Catholic Church itself, saying the institution was “caught its own contradictions” by electing a leader who, he said, has been intent on an “egalitarian, grounded approach to faith.”

The mayor, who was attending a papal conference on climate change, described entering Vatican City as “magical,” and he compared the Vatican, in the age of Francis, to “a liberated zone.”

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