While early reports were hopeful that the new pope, Leo XIV, could be progressive on LGBTQ+ acceptance, his first official comments on queer people came May 16 when he said governments should invest in “the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman.”
Leo made the comment to a closed meeting of world leaders where he introduced himself. The Vatican released his prepared speech which also affirmed the Catholic Church’s position against abortion rights by saying, “No one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike.”
The Church never updated its official stance against homosexuality and same-sex marriage even though Pope Francis said “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” in 2013. Leo apparently doesn’t agree.
A pope’s remarks hold only so much weight when the official institutional stance does not change, but Francis went as far to issue a letter in 2023 that allowed clergy to bless same-sex unions. In October 2024, Leo questioned the letter:
“You have to remember there are still places in Africa that apply the death penalty, for example, for people who are living in a homosexual relationship … So, we’re in very different worlds.”
In 2012, he was much more direct: “Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel, for example, abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia.” He went on to complain that “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today.”
Using language like that to express views like that shows he’s right in line with the official stance of the Catholic Church. While there are progressive Catholics and queer Catholics, the Vatican’s position remains firmly homophobic and doesn’t show any hope of changing that under this new pope.