Pope Leo backs Francis’ inclusive legacy in LGBTQ+ meeting
VATICAN CITY, Sep 1: Pope Leo XIV met with Rev. James Martin, a prominent advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church, to encourage his ministry just days before a planned Holy Year pilgrimage of LGBTQ+ Catholics to the Vatican.
Martin, a New York-based Jesuit author and editor, said that Leo intended to continue Pope Francis’s policy of LGBTQ+ acceptance in the church and encouraged him to keep up his advocacy.
The meeting was officially announced by the Vatican in a sign that Leo wanted it made public.
The audience showed a strong sign of continuity with Francis, who has worked to make the Catholic Church a more welcoming place for LGBTQ+ Catholics.
During his 12-year papacy from 2013 to 2025, Francis met on several occasions with Martin and named him an advisor in the Vatican’s communications department and a member of his big multi-year meeting on the future of the church. However, Francis never changed church teaching, saying homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”
Leo’s position on LGBTQ+ Catholics had been something of a question since his election in May 2012.
In 2012, remarks surfaced from the future pope, then known as the Rev. Robert Prevost, criticizing the “homosexual lifestyle” and the role of mass media in promoting acceptance of same-sex relationships that conflicted with Catholic doctrine. When he became a cardinal in 2023, Prevost acknowledged Francis’ call for a more inclusive church, saying that he didn’t want people to be excluded simply on the basis of choices they make.
Martin helped found Outreach, a ministry promoting LGBTQ+ acceptance, which will participate in a big Holy Year pilgrimage sponsored by the Italian LGBTQ+ Catholic group “Jonathan’s Tent.” The pilgrimage includes a Mass at the Jesuit church in Rome, celebrated by the second-highest member of the Italian bishops’ conference. Vatican officials say such a listing doesn’t signify endorsement, but is merely a logistical help to those groups that wish to organize pilgrimages and walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. (AP)