Pope Francis Opened the Door to the LGBTQ Community, But Only So Much

[Spintendo]

from Liam Stack of The New York Times
4/21/2025

Pope Francis made headlines early in his pontificate when he responded to a reporter’s question about gay priests with a phrase that became shorthand for his pastoral style: “Who am I to judge?”

On Monday after his death, Francis’ admirers remembered him for his openness to members of the LGBTQ community, for his support for those who provided them with ministry and spiritual guidance and for the ways that he changed the church’s tone — if not always its doctrine — on LGBTQ issues.

“What he did for the Community is more than all of his predecessors combined,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit writer.

“Just acknowledging them, recognizing them, accompanying them, advocating for them, listening to them. He was the first pope to ever use the word 'gay' publicly, and he met regularly with transgender Catholics, even toward the end of his life. No pope has ever done that,” Martin said.

Sexuality was one of many issues in which Catholic conservatives disagreed with Pope Francis, and it contributed to the emergence of an influential and well-organized conservative opposition to his papacy in the United States.

But in other countries, especially those where homosexuality is more widely stigmatized, some saw Francis’ accepting attitude as a breath of fresh air.

But Francis’ change in tone did not reflect a deeper reconsideration of church doctrine, and his record on those issues included perhaps as many traditional retrenchments as it did pastoral leaps forward.

He allowed priests to bless gay couples, but he also reaffirmed church teaching that marriage could only be between a man and a woman.

He used a slur for gay men when he complained about the number of gay seminarians to a group of 250 bishops in Rome, then apologized when the incident was reported in the news media.

He then repeated the church’s instruction that men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” should not enter the priesthood.

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I think the title of this thread is spot-on: Francis' pastoral style was about opening doors, and allowing fresh air and light to come in. His views on LGBTQ and women's issues were quite progressive, but he was not a Vatican bureaucrat who would write rules and declare teachings in accord with his views. At best, his viiew was "crawl before you walk before you run," which is wise strategy with a large institution.

I'd like to think that his unfortunate comments about seminarians were the product of a bad day. He seems to have had no animosity against LGBT people, shown perhaps most clearly by his visit to the US some years back, where he had a private dinner with a former (male) student of his and the student's husband. This was the only private dinner on that trip, and such dinners are rare on all papal trips.

He was a pastor, not a politician, and only time will tell how much long-term influence he will have on the church. I never met him, but I think he and I would have gotten along quite well.

For full disclosure, I am an active member within the Anglican Communion, whether it be the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church in the US, depending on where I'm working or teaching. That siad, I hold the Roman Catolic Church in high regard, and I share in mourning of Catholics around the world.