Colombian priest offends Catholics, gays with offensive remarks on same-sex marriage

A prestigious Roman Catholic bishop has managed to offend both conservative Catholics and members of Colombia's gay community during a speech intended to denounce discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Bishop Juan Vicente Cordoba oversees one of the seven dioceses comprising Bogota. The Jesuit spoke Thursday at a conference about gay marriage.

While defending church doctrine on marriage between a man and woman he said that homosexuality is not a sin and that gays are welcomed by the church.

To illustrate the point he used a pejorative Spanish term for a gay man to say that even one of Jesus' 12 apostles could have been homosexual and Mary Magdalene a lesbian.

Cordoba apologized for his remarks Friday, saying they were taken out of context and he didn't know media was present.