A new biography of Pope Leo XIV, out this spring, includes an extensive interview with the first American pontiff, and he’s not very bullish on change when it comes to the Vatican’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues in the Church.

“It seems to me very unlikely, at least in the near future, that the doctrine of the Church will change its teachings on sexuality and marriage,” he explained in Leo XIV: The Biography, as told to Vatican journalist Elise Ann Allen.

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“I must confess that the issue remains in the background of my thoughts because, as we saw at the Synod, within the Church any theme related to the LGBTQ reality is highly polarizing,” Leo said. “For now, in coherence with what I have already tried to witness and live as Pope at this moment in history, I try not to fuel polarization in the Church.”

Ahead of changing Church doctrine, the pontiff said, “We must first change attitudes.”

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“What I mean to say is what Francis stated very clearly with that,” Leo said, quoting his predecessor: “‘Todos, todos’. Everyone is invited in, but not as an expression or non-expression of a specific identity.

“I invite a person because he or she is a son or daughter of God. Everyone is welcome, and we can get to know and respect each other. People want Church doctrine to change and they want attitudes to change: I believe that we must first change attitudes, before even thinking about changing what the Church teaches on a particular issue.”

For Catholics who want recognition of same-sex marriage and official acknowledgement of transgender faithful, the new Pope was circumspect: “The teaching of the Church will continue to remain as it is and for now I have nothing more to add on this point.”

Leo will continue to bless individuals in same-sex unions, according to Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, head of the Vatican’s doctrine office. Asked in July if the new pontiff might revoke the blessings established by Francis, the cardinal told an Italian reporter, “I really don’t think so. The declaration will remain.”

He added, however, that blessing the faithful in a same-sex union could not be compared to marriage.

A couple recently married in Argentina ran afoul of some of those unchanged attitudes when it was discovered that they were both transgender. Their marriage in a Catholic diocese in Corrientes is now under investigation, despite the fact that one of them was assigned male at birth, and the other female.

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