A Croatian archbishop today asked for a pardon from gay people who felt rejected by the Church, an unprecedented move in the staunchly Catholic country. Archbishop Mate Uzinic warned that some Catholics wanted to “serve Christ and the Church with discrimination, aggression and violence… targeting homosexual people”. He used the international day against homophobia today to express regret that some Catholics still refused to accept 2016 guidelines widely seen as softening the Church’s stance on homosexuality. In the 2016 document, Pope Francis wrote that “every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration. “I regret that there are still Catholics who do not agree with this,” Uzinic, archbishop of Rijeka, wrote on Facebook.