5 things to know about Pope Leo XIV
3. He opposes female deacons, has mixed views on LGBT issues
While the College of Cardinals Report defines most of Leo XIV’s positions on the top issues facing the Catholic Church as ambiguous, it notes that he has expressed opposition to ordaining female deacons and has an unclear position on blessings for same-sex couples.
In remarks delivered in 2023, Prevost stated that “‘clericalizing women’ doesn’t necessarily solve a problem, it might make a new problem.”
In a 2012 address, then-Bishop Prevost expressed concern about the promotion of “sympathy for beliefs and practices that contradict the Gospel” in Western culture. He specifically cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families made up of same-sex partners and their adopted children” as examples.
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After Pope Francis authorized priests to bless same-sex couples in 2023, the future pope defended African bishops who pushed back against the move.
“It wasn’t rejecting the teaching authority of Rome, it was saying that our cultural situation is such that the application of this document is just not going to work,” he said in a press briefing last year.
“You have to remember there are still places in Africa that apply the death penalty, for example, for people who are living in a homosexual relationship. … So, we’re in very different worlds,” he added. “Each episcopal conference needs to have a certain authority, in terms of saying, ‘how are we going to understand this in the concrete reality in which we’re living?’”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
