LGBTQ Agenda: Queer Catholics praise Pope Leo for recent moves

LGBTQ Roman Catholics are expressing relief that Pope Leo XIV hasn’t disavowed his predecessor’s change of tact on homosexuality, citing a number of recent moves. These include a meeting with a Jesuit priest and participation by LGBTQs in Jubilee events.

First, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (the Vatican’s doctrine office), reaffirmed the late Pope Francis’ declaration that same-sex couples can seek blessings from Catholic priests. In response to a question on whether that policy would change, he told an Italian newspaper, “I don't think so, the declaration will remain.”

Then, on September 1, Leo met with the Reverend James Martin, a New York-based Jesuit priest who is an outspoken advocate for inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics.

After the meeting, Martin stated, “Let me address what many people want to know: Pope Leo’s approach to LGBTQ Catholic ministry. The message I received from him, loud and clear, was that he wanted to continue with the same approach that Pope Francis had advanced, which was one of openness and welcome. So, it was very much a hopeful message of continuity.”

Martin continued that he gave Leo, the first American to lead the world’s largest Christian denomination, some suggestions.

“For my part, I offered him some suggestions of what dioceses and parishes might do in terms of welcoming LGBTQ Catholics, which I framed in terms of five steps, aware that in some dioceses and churches we are still at the first or second step,” Martin stated. He added that those were acknowledging “that LGBTQ people exist at all and exist in the church;” listening “at all levels of the church;" welcoming them with pastoral outreach programs; including them in parishes and other ministries; and advocacy “whenever there are incidents of violence, bullying, or harassment in the community.”

Finally, last weekend the Vatican welcomed hundreds of LGBTQ Catholics to participate in a pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica. Before his death, Francis declared 2025 a Jubilee, or Holy Year, and invited Catholics worldwide to Rome to participate.

It’s worth noting that though the event happened with his blessing, Leo did not meet with the LGBTQ pilgrimage group. The New York Times reported that in 2012, Leo lamented that Western news media and popular culture led to “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” citing the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”

But that was before Francis changed the terms of the Vatican’s approach. The church considers homosexual acts gravely sinful, and Francis did not change that core teaching. However, he did make a number of overtures to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, becoming the first pope to use the word “gay,” advocating for the decriminalization of homosexuality, allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, and generally encouraging priests to interpret Catholic teaching in a more nuanced way. When he died earlier this year, some LGBTQ Catholics were worried his tone would die with him.

Stan “JR” Zerkowski, the executive director of LGBTQ Catholic affinity group Fortunate Families, mentioned that Leo not only met with Martin but also with Cardinal Raymond Burke, an outspoken traditionalist from the U.S. whom Francis reportedly evicted from his Vatican apartment.

“It is a good sign that Pope Leo met with Cardinal Raymond Burke and with Fr. James Martin; listening is imperative,” Zerkowski stated. “In the ministry that Fr. Martin and I share, lives hang in the balance so I hope whatever was said in the meeting with Fr. Martin and Pope Leo is a foundation for subsequent robust conversations with LGBTQ+ persons and we who minister to and with them and, ultimately, leads to significant and long-overdue change.”

Marianne Duddy-Burke, a lesbian who is executive director of LGBTQ Catholic group DignityUSA, was among those at the pilgrimage over the weekend. She met Francis in 2023.

“Agreeing that this, originally permitted by Pope Francis, would go forward was a hopeful message soon after Pope Leo's election,” she stated to the B.A.R. “His meeting with, and message to, Fr. James Martin are additional indications that he means what he said in his first address. Pope Leo wants our church to be a home for all.”

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, was also on the pilgrimage.

“It’s a great and historic honor to be part of this pilgrimage,” DeBernardo stated. “The fact that the Vatican is welcoming this pilgrimage shows how much the church has grown in regard to accepting LGBTQ+ people.”

He contrasted that with his first time on a pilgrimage to Rome, in 2000. That was also the inaugural World Pride event, which was held in Rome.

“The mood in the city was incredibly tense. Vatican anti-gay rhetoric had fueled hateful sentiment beyond the Catholic Church,” he continued. “Many right-wing Italian political groups were denouncing World Pride, which was to culminate in a march from the Porta San Paolo to the Colosseum. Anti-gay messages were plastered all over the city buildings. One message in particular remains strong in my memory: ‘Gay al Colosseo? Sì, con i leoni’ (Translation: ‘Gays at the Colosseum? Yes, with lions’). The Vatican, in fact, tried to persuade the City of Rome not to allow World Pride or its march to take place. It did not succeed.”

Reached for comment, the office of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone disputed that the church was less welcoming to LGBTQ Catholics before Francis.

“As many other Catholic leaders have stated, it would be a misunderstanding to think that Pope Francis was more welcoming to a particular group of people than previous popes,” spokesperson Peter Marlow told the B.A.R. “All popes agree that all people are welcome to the Catholic Church. The name, ‘Catholic,’ means ‘universal.’ Jesus said in St. John’s Gospel, ‘When the Son of Man is lifted up, He will draw all people to Himself.’ 

“Does the church’s universal welcome imply that everyone is fine just as they are? Absolutely not,” Marlow stated. “The Catholic Church welcomes all but calls them out of a certain way of life and into another one. All are certainly welcome, but on Jesus’ terms, not their own.”

(Jesus himself doesn’t mention homosexuality in the New Testament, though St. Paul arguably does.) https://www.ebar.com/story/73462  
As the B.A.R. reported, Cordileone sent a memo to San Francisco priests shortly after Pope Francis OK’d the blessings for same-sex couples, stating that it had been misunderstood and that they could “deny such blessings if, in his judgment, doing so would be a source of scandal in any way.”  

The Vatican then affirmed it was the prerogative of diocesan bishops to interpret how the declaration should be applied in their dioceses. 

LGBTQ Agenda is an online column that appears weekly. Got a tip on queer news? Contact John Ferrannini at [email protected].