POPE LEO ON LGBT ISSUES AND WOMEN'S ORDINATIONS
Pope Leo on “LGBTQ+ community” and the possibility of women’s ordination - A selection by Miles Christi - 09/20/2025Related: 1. LGBT MARCH AT THE VATICAN - Thousands of LGBTQ … - 2. MASONIC HUMAN FRATERNITY IN THE VATICAN - … - 3. THE VATICAN CALLS FOR A NEW PLANETARY ALLIANCE - … - 4. ABOUT FRANCIS PREVOST / "LEO XIV" - Bishop … - 5. Leo XIV on Whether He Will Change Church … - 6. THE TRUTH ABOUT SISTER LUCIA OF FATIMA - Dr. … - 7. "Vatican II Revisited: Introduction" - Louie … - 8. NEW BOOK IN ENGLISH: "THE DECEPTIVE PONTIFICATE … - 9. "2013-2022: Nine Years With Francis"
Pope Leo: In a synodal way. For most people, certainly the understanding that the role of women in the church has to continue to develop, I think in that sense there was a positive response. I hope to continue in the footsteps of Francis, including in appointing women to some leadership roles at different levels in the Church’s life, recognizing the gifts that women have that can contribute to the life of the Church in many ways. The topic becomes a hot-button issue when the specific question is asked about ordination. What the synod had spoken about specifically was the ordination, perhaps, of women deacons, which has been a question that’s been studied for many years now. There’ve been different commissions appointed by different popes to say, what can we do about this? I think that will continue to be an issue. I at the moment don’t have an intention of changing the teaching of the Church on the topic. I think there are some previous questions that have to be asked. (…)
Download PDF: Pope Leo on women ordinations and LGBT issues.pdf
I also wonder, in terms of a comment I made at one of the press conferences I participated in in the synod, in terms of what has oftentimes been identified as clericalism in the present structures of the church. Would we simply be wanting to invite women to become clericalized, and what has that really solved? Perhaps there are a lot of things that have to be looked at and developed at this time before we can ever really come around to asking the other questions.
That’s where I see things right now. I am certainly willing to continue to listen to people. There are these study groups; the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has responsibility for some of those questions, they continue to examine the theological background, history, of some of those questions, and we’ll walk with that and see what comes.
Crux: Just a quick follow up on the LGBTQ+ point, it can be a very ideological issue. However, beyond any ideological views, I think people felt this was just spoken about in a different way, with a different tone, under Francis. What will your own approach be?
Pope Leo: Well, I don’t have a plan at the moment. I was asked about that already a couple of times during these first couple of months, about the LGBT issue. I recall something that a cardinal from the eastern part of the world said to me before I was pope, about “the western world is fixated, obsessed with sexuality.” A person’s identity, for some people, is all about sexual identity, and for many people in other parts of the world, that’s not a primary issue in terms of how we should deal with one another. I confess, that’s on the back of my mind, because, as we’ve seen at the synod, any issue dealing with the LGBTQ questions is highly polarizing within the Church. For now, because of what I’ve already tried to demonstrate and live out in terms of my understanding of being pope at this time in history, I’m trying not to continue to polarize or promote polarization in the church.
What I’m trying to say is what Francis said very clearly when he would say, ‘todos, todos, todos’. Everyone’s invited in, but I don’t invite a person in because they are or are not of any specific identity. I invite a person in because they are a son or daughter of God. You’re all welcome, and let’s get to know one another and respect one another. At some point, when specific questions will come up… People want the church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change. I think we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says about any given question. I find it highly unlikely, certainly in the near future, that the church’s doctrine in terms of what the church teaches about sexuality, what the Church teaches about marriage, will change.
I’ve already spoken about marriage, as did Pope Francis when he was pope, about a family being a man and a woman in solemn commitment, blessed in the sacrament of marriage. But even to say that, I understand some people will take that badly. In Northern Europe they are already publishing rituals of blessing ‘people who love one another’, is the way they express it, which goes specifically against the document that Pope Francis approved, Fiducia Supplicans, which basically says, of course we can bless all people, but it doesn’t look for a way of ritualizing some kind of blessing because that’s not what the Church teaches. That doesn’t mean those people are bad people, but I think it’s very important, again, to understand how to accept others who are different than we are, how to accept people who make choices in their life and to respect them.
I do understand that this is a very hot-button topic and that some people will make demands to say, “we want the recognition of gay marriage,” for example, or “we want recognition of people who are trans,” to say this is officially recognized and approved by the church. The individuals will be accepted and received. Any priest who has ever heard confessions will have heard confessions from all kinds of people with all kinds of issues, all kinds of states of life and choices that are made. I think that the Church’s teaching will continue as it is, and that’s what I have to say about that for right now.
Sources: 1. Leo XIV on Whether He Will Change Church … - 2. cruxnow.com/…elise-ann-allen-about-lgbtq-issues- …