Pope Leo XIV ascended to the Pope on Thursday, with few public records on LGBTQ issues, concerns about his predecessor, Pope Francis, and concerns about signatures, a source of deep conflict among liberal Catholics.
Nevertheless, supporters of great inclusion in gay and transgender people in the church have said they are cautiously optimistic, even if they may not know much about the men leading the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. To this day, few people believed that the American Pope could have been.
“We're sitting here and Google everything we can do about the new Pope,” said Francis DeBernardo, who runs the new Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based group that promotes LGBTQ inclusion in churches. “I think he's the best we've wanted.”
Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit writer and a well-known supporter of outreach to LGBTQ Catholics, said he was “rejoiced” and “unsettled” by the new pope whom he had been chosen by Americans but he had socially met in the past.
“I know he is realistic, kind, modest, modest, modest man, hardworking, decisive and not afraid to speak his heart,” Father Martin said in a statement. “That's a great choice.”
Pope Francis was praised by people who provided openness to members of the LGBTQ community, ministry and spiritual guidance, and praised by the way he changed the church's tone on issues of gender and sexuality (however changed its doctrine).
Pope Leo spent most of his career in the Peruvian countryside and has never attracted much attention to his position on those issues. However, reports of him making previously scattered comments that were critical of gay and transgender people left several in the LGBTQ community nervously reading tea leaves on Thursday.
Debernardo said he thought LGBTQ Catholics should take a “waiting” approach to Pope Leo.
Still, he said he was worried about Leo's unkind remarks in the past. This includes a 2012 speech that criticised the positive portrayal of “gay lifestyles” in Western media, which said it cultivated “sympathy for the gospel and conflicting beliefs and practices.”
But Debernardo said the world is different from what it is today in 2012, when opposition to many elements of gay rights is widespread. For example, President Barack Obama announced that he had changed his position to support same-sex marriage. “There will be a lot of changes in 13 years,” Debernardo said.
“It was soon clear that when Francis was elected, he opposed Argentine marriage equality in rather powerful terms,” DeVernald said. “So, regarding the comments Pope Leo made about the 'gay lifestyle', I hope he's opened up a little more about these issues over the past 13 years. ”
Meanwhile, Pope Leo moved from a rural area in northern Peru to the heart of Rome, where he assisted Pope Francis' veterinarians and oversaw the Vatican office, appointing a considerable number of bishops in favour of LGBTQ inclusion in the church. He is also a Chicago native who is said to be nearby with the Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, and many consider him to be one of the most open-minded cardinals in the American Church.
These clues have not led to strong support for one view, DeBernardo admitted.
“If I'm going to predict something, I'd expect him not to close out his acceptance of LGBTQ, but he probably won't support it like Francis does,” he said. “I don't think this will become part of Leo's agenda.”
Brian Flanagan, Catholic theologian of Georgetown University's Berkeley Religious Center, Peace and World Affairs, said Leo “doesn't look like a pope that sets things backwards.”
Flanagan said the new Pope's early remarks were particularly encouraging because of the meeting embrace, how Francis governs the church, and how he governs the church, including opinions from the congregations.
“To me, meetings are really important because the whole Catholic Church creates a structure where LGBTQ Catholics can hear the voices of LGBTQ Catholics,” he said. “We hope that the Catholic Church will provide space for us to continue our conversation about the possibility that sexuality and gender may be more complicated than we thought.”
Michael Sennett, a master's degree in idyllic care at Fordham University, was part of a delegation of transgender and intersex people who traveled to Rome last October. Sennett said he was deeply influenced by the new Pope's emotional greetings from the crowd at the Vatican on Thursday.
“The way Pope Leo was so moved today when he stood on that balcony, conveyed a message of love and unity, reminding me of many of the spirit I felt to meet Pope Francis when I was in Rome,” he said. “I think the church will continue to be in good hands.”
Pope Leo's choice of his Pope's name appears to indicate that he will continue his idyllic approach to Francis, who dedicated his Pope to reaching out to people with ties to society, Father Martin said.
The new Pope's name appeared to be a tribute to Pope Leo XIII of the 19th century, who laid the foundation for Catholic social education, highlighting concerns about the welfare of the sick and poor.
But as long as the name may indicate an interest in social justice, it may also focus on issues important to people in poor or war-torn countries, where gay rights aren't high on the agenda, Debernardo said.
He said there is irony in the idea that the first American pope may also be a crown prince who has little interest in the issues of American culture wars.
“For so many bishops around the world, their main concern is like refugees and starvation, and LGBTQ issues are not an urgent concern for their people,” he said.
