Ahead of his formal installation Mass this Sunday, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed core Catholic teaching opposing same-sex marriage in remarks to the Vatican diplomatic corps.

The family is founded on the “stable union between a man and a woman,” he said in his prepared text, reported by the Associated Press.

Related

American bishop Robert Francis Prevost decried the “homosexual lifestyle.” He was just elected pope.
Pope Leo XIV said the mission of the Catholic Church is one of “charity and love.”

Taken together with his assertion that the unborn and elderly enjoy “dignity” as God’s creatures, Leo offered continuity to Catholics following the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis.

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

The remarks came with Leo’s first meeting with the Vatican diplomatic corps, a protocol requirement following the conclave that chose him as the 267th pontiff of the Church. The Holy See is a sovereign state with diplomatic relations with over 180 countries.

Leo told diplomats in the private meeting that governments around the world had the responsibility to build peaceful societies, “above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman.”

“In addition, no one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens, and immigrants alike,” Leo said.

While Francis never sought to change church doctrine defining marriage as a union between a man and woman, or abandon the Church’s position that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” he did reach out to LGBTQ+ Catholics and encouraged their inclusion in the life of the Church.

“Who am I to judge?” Francis famously asked when questioned about gay priests early in his pontificate. In 2023, the pope sanctioned blessing same-sex couples.

In a video presentation that surfaced following his election by the conclave last week, then-Bishop Robert Prevost bemoaned the “homosexual lifestyle” at a gathering of the world Synod of Bishops in 2012.

“Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” Prevost said, calling out the “homosexual lifestyle” specifically.

He pointed to “how alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today.”

It remains to be seen how his views evolved during the reign of his predecessor, who championed Prevost’s rise and appointed him a cardinal in 2023.

Asked by the Catholic News Service in 2023 if his views had changed, Prevost acknowledged the pope’s call for a more inclusive church and said Francis “made it very clear that he doesn’t want people to be excluded simply on the basis of choices that they make, whether it be lifestyle, work, way to dress, or whatever.”

But, he added, doctrine had not changed.

“And people haven’t said yet we’re looking for that kind of change,” Prevost said. “But we are looking to be more welcoming and more open and to say all people are welcome in the church.”

In his remarks to the diplomatic corps Friday, Leo called on people of all nations to work together to “build a world in which everyone can lead an authentically human life in truth, justice, and peace.”

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.