Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has indicated he would have left his Chicago church if his long-time controversial pastor had not retired.

Barack Obama speaks at Soldiers and Sailors Military Museum and Memorial in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 28 mar 2008

Obama made the remark about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright in a taped appearance aired Friday on the ABC-TV talk show The View. The Democratic candidate said he would not have felt comfortable staying at the church if Wright had not retired and acknowledged that some comments he made were inappropriate and offensive.

Videos of Wright's fiery sermons show him angrily denouncing the United States because of its foreign policies and treatment of black Americans. Obama later criticized Wright and called for an honest dialogue about race relations.

Obama is campaigning Friday in Pennsylvania, the next battleground state in the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. The state holds its primary April 22. His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, is campaigning in Indiana.

The presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee, John McCain, holds a finance event in Las Vegas later Friday.

Some information for this report was provided by AP.