Pope Leo XIV announced recently that he will continue supporting the Catholic Church’s current stance on LGBTQ+ issues and support for informal blessings of same-sex marriages.
The announcement was made at a news conference following a nearly two week-long visit in Africa according to reports from PinkNews. However, the new pope also said the church would not move forward to offer formal recognition for same-sex couples.
Leo claimed the church would continue to respect the policies and sentiments expressed by his predecessor, the late Pope Francis. The late Pope began expressing support, or at least tolerance for LGBTQ+ people in 2013 when he famously said: “If a person is gay and is seeking the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge them?” according to the Arizona Daily Star.
Prior to the passing of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church was slowly but surely moving toward more acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities as he encouraged faith leaders around the world to take a more “pastoral” approach to members of the church. In late 2023, Pope Francis announced his approval of informal same-sex marriage blessings across Roman Catholic global denominations.
Despite the Catholic Church’s broad yet limited acceptance of same-sex couples, whether gay marriages will be informally blessed is still decided by individual parishes.
