The U.S. Senate has confirmed the co-founder of an anti-LGBTQ+ Catholic group as the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, sending the LGBTQ+ Catholic community backsliding after a period of acceptance and tolerance during the late Pope Francis’ papacy.
U.S. Senators voted in CatholicVote President Brian Burch by a close 49-44 margin. The win follows President Trump’s nomination of Burch late last year for the position. The choice is in alignment with the Trump Administration’s general anti-LGBTQ policies. From the start of Trump’s second term, he has made intentional attacks on the LGBTQ community.
According to Washington Blade, “the Vatican’s tone towards LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under Pope Francis’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity did not change.”
Pope Francis encouraged church leaders to adopt a more accepting approach to the LGBTQ+ communities, even suggesting same-sex marriages could be blessed by the church. New ambassador Burch, however, has openly criticized the suggestion to bless same-sex couples.
Since the appointment of Pope Leo XIV this spring following the death of late Pope Francis, the LGBTQ+ community has waited as a new era of LGBTQ+ acceptance either continues or backslides at the Vatican.
CatholicVote, Burch’s nonprofit conservative advocacy group, has released statements on issues like gender-affirming care using insulting language. In a statement on the U.S. vs. Skrmetti case he refers to trans healthcare using terms like “chemically sterilize,” “mutilate” and “castrate.”
Burch released a statement following his appointment via CatholicVote. “I am profoundly grateful to President Trump and the U.S. Senate for this opportunity to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See,” he wrote. “The relationship between the Holy See and the United States remains one of the most unique in the world, with the global reach and moral witness of the Catholic Church serving as a critical component of U.S. efforts to bring about peace and prosperity.”
