The New Pope Faces Scrutiny On LGBTQ+ Rights

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As a bishop in Peru, Leo also deemed “the promotion of gender ideology” in schools “confusing,” noting that “it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.”

And in 2024, Leo adopted a more ambivalent stance regarding blessings for same-sex unions. While Francis backed the practice, Leo declined to oppose or endorse a document that supported them, according to The 19th.

During his tenure as head of the Catholic Church, Francis was known for ushering in a more inclusive period of leadership that embraced LGBTQ+ parishioners and clergy members in a new way.

“If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Francis said of gay clergy members in 2013. He also pushed back against laws around the world that have criminalized homosexuality and met with LGBTQ+ Catholic groups, becoming one of the first popes to do so.

Francis’ leadership was widely heralded as a sea change compared to past papacies that promoted anti-gay views, though he did not fundamentally change doctrine on issues like same-sex marriage.

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