Despite past statements, LGBTQ Catholics express optimism about 1st American pope

The Roman Catholic Church got its 267th pope May 8, as the College of Cardinals chose an American for the first time. Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, addressed the throngs of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square with his first words, “Peace be with you.”

Whether Leo will continue the late Pope Francis’ tonal shift in including LGBTQ people in the world’s largest Christian denomination with 1.4 billion members remains to be seen, as past comments surfaced that were critical of LGBTQ families. He has also been critical of the Trump administration in recent months, particularly around immigration issues, according to X posts and retweets.

Francis died April 21, Easter Monday, at the age of 88. Following his funeral April 26, cardinals had over a week of meetings and prayer. There were 133 cardinals who served as electors and selected the new pope in a conclave that started May 7. A two-thirds vote was required.

Leo – born in Chicago and most recently prefect of the dicastery for bishops at the Vatican – was elected on the second day of the conclave. Before he was tapped by his predecessor to the office responsible for choosing who will be elevated to be a Catholic bishop, he was bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, from 2015-2023, and was general of the Augustinian order from 2001-2013.

Leo, 69, who holds dual U.S.-Peruvian citizenship, spoke about his time in the Latin American country in Spanish from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City shortly after his election.

“To my dearest beloved diocese in Peru, where a faithful people accompanied their bishop to share their faith with him, and who have done so much to be a faithful church,” he said.

It is unclear where the new pontiff currently stands on LGBTQ issues. 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.”

Reaction of LGBTQ Catholics to the new pope has initially been positive, despite Leo’s statements 13 years ago. Leo has not said much on the matter since Francis became pope in 2013. Francis did not change long-standing Catholic teaching that sex between people of the same sex is gravely sinful, but he did alter the church’s approach to LGBTQ people, famously saying, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”

Michael O'Loughlin, a gay man who is executive director of the Catholic LGBTQ website Outreach, stated, "There are many questions about the new pope, the first elected from the United States, particularly around how he might interact with the LGBTQ Catholic community."

"The short answer is, we just don’t know," he continued. "Little is known right now about the new pope’s views on a range of issues, including the place of LGBTQ people in the church. But in his blessing tonight, the new pope prayed for peace, thanked Pope Francis and called for the church to continue along the synodal path. Those are all signs that Leo may well be a pope in the mold of Francis."

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, an LGBTQ Catholic affinity group, issued a statement May 8 acknowledging Leo’s past statements but expressing optimism.

“Opinions and ideas can change, and he supported Pope Francis’ change in pastoral practice to allow divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion, and he showed mild, but present, support for Fiducia Supplicans,” stated the network’s co-chairs Christopher Vella, coordinator of the Drachma LGBTI Group in Malta, and Marianne Duddy-Burke, a lesbian who is co-chair of the network and also executive director of DignityUSA, another LGBTQ Catholic affinity group.

Duddy-Burke continued, “We hope our new pope will continue to learn from the stories of LGBTIQ people, celebrate our gifts, and recognize that certain teachings and practices have caused harm to members of the Body of Christ and must be re-examined. We join many around the world in praying for his ministry in this new role.”

In its own statement, Dignity USA also acknowledged Leo’s past comments.

“We note that this statement was made during the papacy of Benedict XVI, when doctrinal adherence appeared to be expected,” the organization stated. “In addition, the voices of LGBTQ people were rarely heard at that level of church leadership. We pray that Pope Leo XIV will demonstrate a willingness to listen and grow as he begins his new role as the leader of the global Church.

“We also hope that Pope Leo XIV will have the moral clarity that will enable our church to continue to confront the many critical issues facing the entire global community, as well as to address the injustices and inequities that continue to plague our church itself,” Dignity USA added.

Emmanuel Romero, co-chair of Dignity San Francisco, stated to the B.A.R., "It is interesting that the conclave elected a U.S.-born cardinal who worked internationally with the poor, openly criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies, and likely will carry on the late Pope Francis’ encouragement of active ministry to people on the periphery."

"Personally, I’m curious about whether this is a deliberate jab at America’s political landscape, which reeks of xenophobia, oligarchy, and disdain of people who struggle economically," Romero continued. "Is that too much to hope for? Possibly, but it’s certainly not too much to pray for. Additionally, we pray that Pope Leo XIV continues to evolve in his views on LGBTQ people and women’s ordination. Our communities look forward to having conversations with him."

Romero also acknowledged the pope's prior statements, stating, "As LGBTQ Catholics, we must not overlook previous reports of the new pope’s seemingly conflicting views on LGBTQ people."

"In addition to being a traditionalist who upholds outdated views on the gender binary and gender roles – as evidenced by his opposition to ordaining women to the deaconate – the former Cardinal Prevost previously expressed discontent over Western media’s increasingly sympathetic portrayals of LGBTQ people and family households led by same-gender parents," Romero stated. "And yet, there are other reports that, like his immediate predecessor, the former Cardinal Prevost promoted a compassionate attitude of welcome toward marginalized groups into the church, including LGBTQ individuals. We must also note that Prevost once led the Augustinians, a religious order with historic ties to the formation of DignityUSA."

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of Catholic LGBTQ affinity group New Ways Ministry, also acknowledged Leo’s past statements.

“We pray that in the 13 years that have passed, 12 of which were under the papacy of Pope Francis, that his heart and mind have developed more progressively on LGBTQ+ issues, and we will take a wait-and-see attitude to see if that has happened,” DeBernardo stated. “Pope Francis opened the door to a new approach to LGBTQ+ people; Pope Leo must now guide the church through that door.

“Many Catholics, including bishops and other leaders, remain ignorant about the reality of LGBTQ+ lives, including the marginalization, discrimination, and violence that many still face, even in Catholic institutions,” he added. “We hope that he will further educate himself by meeting with and listening to LGBTQ+ Catholics and their supporters. Catholics need to be freed from the deadening homophobia and transphobia which strangles their personal and spiritual growth.”

DeBernardo said he was thankful that Leo spoke of synodality – in which lay people and other bishops are consulted in the church’s governance – in his opening remarks. (Catholicism puts the pope, who succeeds St. Peter as the bishop of Rome, as the supreme legislator.)

“We are grateful that in his opening statement he said, ‘We want to be a synodal church,’” DeBernardo stated. “Inviting LGBTQ+ people to be part of that process will be a positive sign that Pope Leo wants a church of inclusion. For more than five decades LGBTQ+ Catholics have been pleading for the church to listen. With Pope Francis, their request was fulfilled. To revert to old ways of turning deaf ears to people who long to be full members of the Church is not the way of Jesus.”

Gay San Francisco District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a practicing Catholic, told the B.A.R. he is “cautiously optimistic.”

“It could’ve been worse,” he said, referring to the possibility of a new pope that would roll back changes made under Francis. “Based on what I’ve read, the new pope had less-than-welcoming things to say back in 2012 about LGBTQ+ inclusion within the church. In fairness, [then-President] Barack Obama still opposed marriage equality in 2012, so I’d like to think people’s views can evolve and enlighten over time. My hope is the Catholic Church continues to evolve in favor of LGBTQ+ inclusion, too, under the leadership of Pope Leo XIV.”

‘Kind person’
The Reverend James Martin, S.J., an American priest who is a consultant on the Roman Dicastery for Communication, which advises the pope, has been a voice in favor of further inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics. He told ABC-TV he knows Leo personally and was “just sort of speechless” he was chosen.

“Just a very kind person, very straightforward, very modest, very reserved,” Martin said. “I was emailing him just a few weeks ago about something, and I said, ‘Would you like my opinion on something?’ and he responded, ‘Sure, I’ll take your two cents.’”

Martin said by choosing the name Leo, he may have been aligning himself with Catholic social teaching, which was first formulated in its modern form by Pope Leo XIII, which in 1891 gave the papal imprimatur to unionization and discussed the plight of the working class.

Francis’ famous “Who am I to judge?” comment in 2013 was the first time a pope had said the word “gay.” Later, Francis called on homosexuality to be decriminalized worldwide, and allowed priests to bless same-sex couples in the document “Fiducia Supplicans.”

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, a conservative appointed by Francis’ predecessor Benedict XVI, told priests they didn’t necessarily have to join in those blessings, as the B.A.R. first reported. In a memo, he wrote that the Vatican document had been misunderstood "by some reports and analyses," but did not indicate how, stating "please do not rely on secular media stories, which are easily fueled by ignorance, animosity, and judgmentalism."

Thus, Cordileone had instructed, “Any priest has the right to deny such blessings if, in his judgment, doing so would be a source of scandal in any way.”

Cordileone stated to the B.A.R. he extends his "heartfelt congratulations."

"May his papacy inspire unity and peace to a world in need of Christ’s love," the archbishop stated. "May the Holy Spirit guide him, and may he be a beacon of wisdom and hope as he takes on this sacred responsibility. Please join me in praying for His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV as he begins his sacred ministry."

President Donald Trump, who is not Catholic, posted an AI-generated image of himself as the vicar of Christ on social media last week that elicited some criticism. On Thursday, Trump said, on the election of the first U.S. citizen to be pope, “That's a great honor, that's a great honor.”

Speaking to the press outside the Oval Office, Trump continued, "I was watching it and they said, he's from America. I said, that's great."

The new pope’s X account reposted a number of critical things about Trump’s second administration, however. On April 14, he reposted an X post by Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo linking to an Associated Press article about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was extrajudicially sent to an El Salvador megaprison by the Trump administration.

The post stated, “As Trump & [El Salvador President Nayib] Bukele use Oval to [laugh emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident, once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC Aux +Evelio asks, ‘Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?’”

The poster is referring to Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, an auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C., who is from El Salvador. As the B.A.R. previously reported, Trump and Salvadorian leader Bukele both said in the Oval Office that they could not return Abrego Garcia, despite a U.S. Supreme Court order to facilitate his return. He was sent to the megaprison along with others, including gay makeup artist Andry José Hernández Romero, without due process.

The account also reposted an article headlined “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others,” and another, “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration.”

Leo’s predecessor, Francis, rebuked Vance, who is Catholic, in a letter to the U.S. bishops earlier this year. Vance had claimed the Catholic principle of “ordo amoris” justified Trump administration mass deportations. Vance was the last major world leader to meet Francis before his death April 21.

The New York Post reported Leo was also critical in his retweets during Trump’s first term in office. One such retweet, also from Palmo, stated, “Calling refugee bans ‘a dark hour of US history,’ [Chicago Archbishop] Blase [Cupich] says ‘the world is watching as we abandon our commitment to American values.’”

Updated, 5/8/25: This article has been updated with additional comments from LGBTQ Catholics and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.