Unearthed comments from new Pope Leo XIV alarm LGBTQ+ Catholics
After years of sympathetic and inclusive comments from Pope Francis, LGBTQ+ Catholics expressed concern on Thursday about hostile remarks made more than a decade ago by Father Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV, in which he condemned what he called the 'homosexual lifestyle' and 'the redefinition of marriage' as 'at odds with the Gospel'.
In a 2012 address to the world synod of bishops, the man who now leads the church said that '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 – for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia'.
In the remarks, of which he also read portions for a video produced by the Catholic News Service, a news agency owned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the cleric blamed mass media for fostering so much 'sympathy for anti-Christian lifestyles choices' that 'when people hear the Christian message it often inevitably seems ideological and emotionally cruel'.
'Catholic pastors who preach against the legalization of abortion or the redefinition of marriage are portrayed as being ideologically driven, severe and uncaring,' Prevost added.
He went on to complain that 'alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today'.
The video illustrated his criticism of the 'homosexual lifestyle' and 'same-sex partners and their adopted children' with clips from two US sitcoms featuring same-sex couples, The New Normal and Modern Family.
The cleric also called for a 'new evangelization to counter these mass media-produced distortions of religious and ethical reality'.
After some of the comments were reported by the New York Times, American LGBTQ+ Catholic groups expressed alarm but also cautious optimism that the papacy of Francis had moved the whole church forward.
'We pray that in the 13 years that have passed, 12 of which were under the papacy of Pope Francis, that his heart and mind have developed more progressively on LGBTQ+ issues, and we will take a wait-and-see attitude to see if that has happened,' said Francis DeBernardo, the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ+ Catholic group, in a statement.
'We pray that as our church transitions from 12 years of an historic papacy, Pope Leo XIV will continue the welcome and outreach to LGBTQ+ people which Pope Francis inaugurated.'
DignityUSA, a group that represents LGBTQ+ Catholics, also expressed 'concern' with the pope's previous comments but wrote in an online post: 'We note that this statement was made during the papacy of Benedict XVI, when doctrinal adherence appeared to be expected. In addition, the voices of LGBTQ+ people were rarely heard at that level of church leadership. We pray that Pope Leo XIV will demonstrate a willingness to listen and grow as he begins his new role as the leader of the global church.'
Perhaps the best-known of the sympathetic statements made about LGBTQ+ Catholics by Pope Francis was a comment he made to reporters in 2013, when he was asked about his observation that there was a 'gay lobby' inside the Vatican hierarchy.
'I have yet to find someone who introduces himself at the Vatican with an identity card marked 'gay',' the pope joked. 'But we must distinguish the fact that a person is gay from the fact of lobbying, because no lobbies are good.'
'If a person is gay,' he added, 'and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?' DeBernardo, the New Ways Ministry director, referenced those remarks on Thursday.
'The healing that began with 'Who am I to judge?' needs to continue and grow to 'Who am I, if not a friend to LGBTQ+ people?'' DeBernardo said.
'Pope Francis opened the door to a new approach to LGBTQ+ people; Pope Leo must now guide the church through that door,' he added.
'Many Catholics, including bishops and other leaders, remain ignorant about the reality of LGBTQ+ lives, including the marginalization, discrimination, and violence that many still face, even in Catholic institutions. We hope that he will further educate himself by meeting with and listening to LGBTQ+ Catholics and their supporters.'
Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive director of DignityUSA, told the Washington Blade in a text message from St Peter's Square shortly after Leo XIV's election that the new pope 'hasn't said a lot since early 2010s' on the subject, adding 'hope he has evolved'.
Father James Martin, an American Jesuit and the founder of Outreach, an LGBTQ+ Catholic resource, sounded a note of optimism in a video message from Rome, calling the new pope a 'down-to-earth, kind, modest' man and 'a great choice'.
In 2023, Martin was able to bless a same-sex couple for the first time, after Pope Francis said he would allow such blessings.
In 2020, Pope Francis said that he supported civil-union laws for same-sex couples. 'Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They're children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it,' he said.
'Pope Francis did more for LGBTQ people than all his predecessors combined,' Martin wrote last month.
'He wrote letters of welcome to Outreach conferences for LGBTQ Catholics. He approved the publication of 'Fiducia Supplicans, a Vatican document that permitted priests to bless same-sex marriages under certain circumstances – and weathered intense blowback from some parts of the church. And, perhaps most surprisingly and least well known, he met regularly with transgender Catholics and spoke to them with warmth and welcome.'
- The Guardian
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Frederick Forsyth – the reporter who turned his foreign adventures into best-selling thrillers
FROM RAF pilot to journalist with romantic links to a Hollywood star, Frederick Forsyth loved to travel the world and get up to mischief. It is no wonder the dashing former MI6 agent used his adventures to help him write more than 25 books, selling 75million copies in a half-century long literary career. 7 Frederick Forsyth at his typewriter in the Seventies Credit: Getty 7 1973 film The Day of the Jackal with Edward Fox Credit: Alamy 7 Frederick collecting his CBE with wife Sandy in 1997 Credit: PA:Press Association It was during his time as a journalist that The Day Of The Jackal, about an assassination attempt on then French president Charles de Gaulle, was formulated. And a year-long assignment in Soviet East Last year, the twice-married author, who was also romantically linked to Hollywood star Faye Dunaway told The Sun: 'I got a lot of attention from the secret police, the Stasi. I was followed all over the bloody place. 'I thought the only way to survive is to take the mickey. They had no sense of humour, so I would do stupid things. Read more on Frederick Forsyth 'Too stupid' 'I knew my apartment was bugged, so I would go into the bedroom and have an extremely passionate orgy with a non-existent female. 'Knowing every word was being recorded I used two or three voices and then there'd be a knock on the door. 'Mein Herr, your gas is leaking'. 'They would search the flat and discover I had an invisible mistress.' Forsyth, who died yesterday morning after a short illness, was born in Ashford in Kent in 1938. Most read in The Sun His mum ran a dress shop and his dad was a furrier. He attended a private school nearby in Tonbridge and wanted to leave home aged 17 to become a bullfighter in Spain. Trailer for new adaptation of The Day of the Jackal starring Eddie Redmayne Instead Frederick had to do national service and became one of the youngest RAF fighter pilots aged 19. Frustrated that he wasn't getting to travel the globe as much as he'd like, he joined the Eastern Daily Press as a trainee reporter. From there he went to Reuters, where his ability to speak French saw him posted in Paris during an anti-de Gaulle campaign by a far-right paramilitary organisation called the OAS. He said: 'There definitely was an OAS trying to assassinate President de Gaulle and I was there covering it as a Reuters reporter in 1962 to '63. 'I thought to myself that they probably would fail because they were so penetrated by French counter intelligence that it was hardly possible for four of them to sit around a table.' From there he went to East 7 Spy author Frederick talking to The Sun last year Credit: Arthur Edwards / The Sun 7 Former pilot Frederick in his RAF uniform aged 19 Credit: Arthur Edwards / The Sun He said: 'I was once picked up in Magdeburg by the Stasi and interrogated through the night. 'I was like the PG Wodehouse character Bertie Wooster. 'Eager to please, helpless, hopeless, hapless and therefore harmless. 'Having shouted at me all night, they took me down a long corridor to a door. 'I didn't know whether it was the execution chamber or what it could be. 'Turned out to be the car park. 'They were chucking me out. 'As I was getting in the car, I heard one of them say 'He's too stupid to be an agent'.' Frederick then covered the civil war between Biafra and Nigeria for the BBC but his contract was not renewed after six months. Every friend I had told me very, very clearly that I was absolutely insane. Frederick Forsyth He wanted to go back to tell the world what was going on because up to two million people died of starvation in the conflict. Finding himself unemployed at Christmas 1969, he set about writing The Day Of The Jackal. Freddie said: 'I was skint, out of a job and I thought I'll write a novel. 'Every friend I had told me very, very clearly that I was absolutely insane.' He turned out 350 pages in 35 days, not a word of which was changed on publication. Although he said he took the sex scene out because he didn't think he had written it well. The book proved to be a massive hit, with the publishers offering Frederick a then princely £75,000 for the rights forever. He regretted accepting the deal because the book sold 12million copies and was turned into two films and a ten-part Sky drama starring Eddie Redmayne. It probably would have earned him a million pounds in royalties. 7 Frederick at home in Herts in 1971 Credit: Getty 7 Eddie Redmayne in a modern adaptation of The Day of the Jackal Credit: Carnival Film & Television Limited There were plenty more novels including The Odessa File, The Dogs Of War and The Fourth Protocol. Frederick claimed his romantic life was untroubled even though he divorced his first wife Carole in 1989. Shortly afterwards he said: 'We have both been very determined indeed to keep it civilised.' Then, in 1994, he married one of his fans Sandy Molloy, who he was with until she died in October 2024. Frederick had to keep writing because he was swindled out of £2.2million by dodgy financial adviser Roger Levitt in 1990 and his final novel Revenge Of Odessa is due to be published later this year. 'Extraordinary life' In 1997 he was made a CBE for services to literature. His friend David Davis, the Conservative MP, paid a warm tribute, saying: 'Freddie believed in honour and patriotism and courage and directness and straightforwardness. 'We haven't got many authors like him and we will miss him greatly. 'James Bond was total fantasy but everything that Freddie wrote about was based in a real world.' The author, who died at home in Buckinghamshire, left behind two sons Stuart and Shane from his first marriage. His agent Jonathan Lloyd said: 'We mourn the passing of one of the world's greatest thriller writers. 'Only a few weeks ago I sat with him as we watched a new and moving documentary of his life, In My Own Words, to be released later this year on BBC One and was reminded of an extraordinary life, well lived. 'He will be greatly missed by his family, his friends, all of us at Curtis Brown and, of course, his millions of fans around the world. 'Though his books will, of course, live on forever.'
Irish Daily Star
4 hours ago
- Irish Daily Star
Blake Lively gets major win in Justin Baldoni legal battle as all his lawsuits dismissed
Justin Baldoni has been handed a major blow in his lawsuit against Blake Lively, after all of his suits against her, Ryan Reynolds and the New York Times were dismissed by a judge. After months of a messy battle that saw Lively's friend Taylor Swift allegedly keeping her distance after being dragged into the drama , as well as escalating claims from both sides , it appears that a portion of the case has come to an end. According to TMZ , suits filed by Baldoni and his Wayfarer production company against his It Ends With Us co-star, her husband, and the New York Times, were all dismissed by a judge. Read More Related Articles Pierce Brosnan thinks his co-star should be the next James Bond Read More Related Articles 'Little-known' Liam Neeson action film even more 'intense' than Taken Baldoni sued the couple for $400 million and the New York Times for $250 million, claiming defamation from the newspaper over its original reporting of a complaint Lively filed about his alleged behavior on the film's set. Justin Baldoni's lawsuits against Blake Lively have been thrown out. He alleged extortion and other claims in his suit against Lively and Reynolds. The judge allegedly dismissed the suit against the New York Times after finding they fairly reported the story and that the emails they used in the article were ultimately tied to Lively's initial civil right complaint. The judge ruled: 'The Times reviewed the available evidence and reported, perhaps in a dramatized manner, what it believed to have happened. The Times has no obvious motive to favor Lively's version of events.' A reason for dismissing the suit against Lively and Reynolds was not immediately given. The Irish Star has reached out to reps for both Baldoni and Lively for comment. Baldoni has allegedly also filed a motion to dismiss Lively's own suits against him, which are still intact. After months of rumors about friction on the It Ends With Us set and reports that torpedoed Lively's promotion of the film, she filed a complaint against Baldoni in December 2024. In her complaint, Lively accused Naldoni of misconduct while filming the project, which he also directed. She also complained that after a meeting with HR where he agreed to stop the inappropriate behavior, he hired a crisis PR team to run a smear campaign against her. Baldoni filed his suit against the Times claiming that the story was unfairly reported and then countersued Lively and Reynolds after she filed an official lawsuit. Lively's formal lawsuit claimed alleged sexual harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and lost wages.
The Irish Sun
6 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Meet London-based ‘Hamas operative' behind Greta Thunberg's ‘Freedom Flotilla' stunt that was foiled by Israel
A MAN accused in parliament of being a Hamas operative based in London was one of the organisers of Greta Thunberg's "Freedom Flotilla", it has emerged. Zaher Birawi, who has been photographed with slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, was present at the launch of the British-flagged yacht Madleen. 7 Zaher Al-Birawi, who is close to the Hamas leadership, speaks at anti-Israel protest in London 7 Mr Birawi pictured with Ismael Haniyeh, the former Hamas Leader, in 2012 Credit: Courtesy of Ministry of Strategic Affairs 7 Greta Thunberg is offered a sandwich by an Israeli soldier Credit: Alamy Live News 7 A photo posted on Telegram purportedly showing activists with their hands up on board the Madleen Credit: Freedom Flotilla Coalition As a Palestinian-British journalist, Mr Birawi is chair of the International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza. He also runs a UK-registered charity called Education Aid for Palestinians, which has raised more than £3 million since 2017. Just a week ago, Mr Birawi was present at the launch of Madleen and live-streamed the event from a dock in Sicily. He called himself the 'founding member' of the Freedom Flotilla International Coalition - which arranged Madleen's voyage to Gaza. The 'selfie yacht' has now been seized by Israel, and all the people onboard have been detained. Labour MP Christian Wakeford named Mr Birawi in the Commons using special parliamentary protections that protect him from being sued. Mr Birawi said Mr Wakeford's claim was 'baseless' and that he was looking at 'all available legal recourse' in response to the MP's comments. According to Israel's strategic affairs ministry, Mr Birawi moved to the UK in the 1990s, has 'close ties to Hamas' and worked for several pro-Palestinian NGOs - including one tied to Hamas. Most read in The Sun In 2023, The Sun on Sunday revealed Mr Birawi lived in a £500,000 semi-detached house in leafy north London. MP for Bury South Mr Wakeford raised concerns over a 'serious national security risk' from 'Hamas operatives'. Israel issues warning to Greta's 'Freedom Flotilla' as eco-pest SAILS to Gaza He told the Commons: '[Mr Birawi] was designated by Israel in 2013 as a senior Hamas operative in Europe. 'He is listed as a trustee of a UK-registered charity Education Aid for Palestinians, and a publicly available video shows him hosting a 2019 event in London titled 'Understanding Hamas'. 'Two weeks ago, Hamas launched the deadly terrorist attack the world has seen since 9/11. 'This House rightly voted to proscribe Hamas in its entirety in November 2021. It is therefore a serious national security risk for Hamas operatives to be living here in London." There is no suggestion that Mr Birawi was involved in the deadly October 7 terror attacks. He said: 'I have been made aware of the fact that the Member of Parliament for Bury South, Christian Wakefield, made a reference to my name in the proceedings of the House of Commons on October 26. 'Regrettably, this mention appears to have been motivated by an intent to besmirch my character and, potentially, to rationalise any harm that may befall me or my family. 'In a time when we should all exercise vigilance and contemplate the potential consequences of our words, particularly their capacity to incite violence and animosity, Mr Wakefield chose a contrary course of action. 'I wish to reaffirm that what the respected MP said about the accusation is baseless and that it is part of the distortion attempts undertaken by the occupying state to prevent activists supporting Palestinian rights from carrying out their duties in supporting the Palestinian human rights.' 7 Greta Thunberg is one of the 12 people aboard the vessel 7 The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says it is carrying essential supplies to the Gazan population Credit: Getty 7 Thunberg with part of the crew of the ship headed to the Strip Credit: Getty Hamas has been proscribed as a terror group in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2000 since 2021. Swedish eco warrior Greta, ten other activists and a journalist were on the Madleen when it left the Italian isle of Sicily last week. Israel accused the Freedom Flotilla Coalition of supporting Hamas terrorists. The 'selfie yacht' operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition was said to be "safely making its way to the shores of Israel", Israel's Foreign Minsitry said. All passengers were safe and unharmed and activists handed out sandwiches and water before the vessel docked at the southern Israeli port of Ashdod. The boat was carrying a "tiny amount of aid" on board - which will be sent to Gaza. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said that he has instructed the Israeli Defence Forces to screen footage of the 7 October attacks as soon as they arrive. Who is on board the "Freedom Flotilla"? Greta Thunberg - Swedish climate activist Rima Hassan – French-Palestinian MEP Yasemin Acar – German activist Thiago Avila – Brazilian activist Omar Faiad – French journalist Pascal Maurieras – French activist Yanis Mhamdi – French reporter Suayb Ordu – Turkish activist Sergio Toribio – Spanish activist Marco van Rennes – Dutch activist Reva Viard – French activist Liam Cunningham - Irish Game of Thrones actor Baptiste Andre - French Physician The disturbing footage - titled "Bearing Witness" - shows innocent people being massacred and mutilated. And all the footage was taken from the Hamas terrorists' bodycams as they filmed their massacre. Hamas branded the interception of the yacht as a "crime of piracy". Read more on the Irish Sun The group said in a statement that activists were on a "humanitarian mission aimed at breaking the siege on the Gaza Strip and exposing the crime of mass starvation." It added that Israel's action was "organised state terrorism, a clear violation of international law, and an attack on civilian volunteers motivated by humanitarian motives."
