VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV met Monday with one of the crucial distinguished advocates for larger LGBTQ+ inclusion within the Catholic Church and inspired his ministry, simply days earlier than a deliberate Holy 12 months pilgrimage of LGBTQ+ Catholics to the Vatican in an indication of continued welcome.
The Rev. James Martin, a New York-based Jesuit creator and editor, stated Leo informed him he supposed to proceed Pope Francis’ coverage of LGBTQ+ acceptance within the church and inspired him to maintain up his advocacy.
“I heard the identical message from Pope Leo that I heard from Pope Francis, which is the will to welcome all individuals, together with LGBTQ individuals,” Martin informed The Related Press after the viewers. “It was fantastic. It was very consoling and really encouraging and albeit loads of enjoyable.”
The assembly, which lasted a few half-hour, was formally introduced by the Vatican in an indication that Leo needed it made public.
The viewers was important as a result of it confirmed a robust signal of continuity with Francis, who greater than any of Leo’s predecessors labored to make the Catholic Church a extra welcoming place for LGBTQ+ Catholics. From his 2013 quip, “Who am I to guage?” a few purportedly homosexual priest, to his resolution to permit clergymen to bless same-sex couples, Francis distinguished himself together with his message of welcome.
Throughout his 12-year papacy from 2013 to 2025, Francis met on a number of events with Martin and named him an adviser within the Vatican’s communications division and a member of his massive multi-year assembly on the way forward for the church. Nonetheless, Francis by no means modified church instructing saying gay acts are “intrinsically disordered.”
Leo’s place on LGBTQ+ Catholics had been something of a question. Quickly after he was elected in Could, remarks surfaced from 2012 during which the long run pope, then often known as the Rev. Robert Prevost, criticized the “gay way of life” and the function of mass media in selling acceptance of same-sex relationships that conflicted with Catholic doctrine.
When he turned a cardinal in 2023, Catholic Information Service requested Prevost if his views had modified. He acknowledged Francis’ call for a extra inclusive church, saying Francis “made it very clear that he doesn’t need individuals to be excluded merely on the premise of selections that they make, whether or not it’s way of life, work, option to costume, or no matter.”
Prevost then underlined that doctrine had not modified.
“However we wish to be extra welcoming and extra open and to say all persons are welcome within the church,” he stated.
Martin, who knew Prevost from their time working collectively within the synod on the church’s future, stated he wasn’t nervous about Leo’s views given Martin all the time had discovered him to be “a really open, welcoming, inclusive particular person.”
“Nevertheless it’s fantastic to listen to this continuation,” Martin stated, including that Leo informed him his priorities are to work for peace and unity, citing particularly the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Myanmar.
“However he additionally needed to remind folks that this can be a church for ‘todos, todos, totos,’” Martin stated, quoting Francis’ well-known line in Spanish about how the church is open to everybody, todos.
Martin helped discovered Outreach, a ministry promoting LGBTQ+ acceptance, which can take part in a giant Holy 12 months pilgrimage Friday and Saturday sponsored by Italian LGBTQ+ Catholic group “Jonathan’s Tent.” Considerably, the pilgrimage of about 1,200 individuals features a Mass on the Jesuit church in Rome celebrated by the second-highest member of the Italian bishop’s convention.
The pilgrimage just isn’t formally sponsored by the Vatican, however is listed on the Vatican’s calendar of Holy 12 months occasions. Vatican officers say such a list doesn’t signify endorsement, however is merely a logistical assist to these teams that want to arrange pilgrimages and stroll via the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.
However the pilgrimage and Martin’s viewers nonetheless ship a sign that’s per church instructing “that Jesus reaches out to individuals on the margins,” Martin stated.
The message he acquired from Leo was “that if individuals have been proud of Pope Francis’ method to LGBTQ Catholics, they’re going to be proud of Pope Leo’s method. And he requested me to proceed what I’m doing, which was very encouraging,” Martin stated.
___
Related Press faith protection receives assist via the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely accountable for this content material.
