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Hindustan Times
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
The queer flock of Pope Leo XIV
On May 8, over 1.3 billion Catholics around the world watched with rapt attention as the burgundy drapes on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City opened to reveal a new Supreme Pontiff. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now elected by a conclave of his brother cardinals as Pope Leo XIV, walked out smiling and waving to the crowds below, wearing the regalia eschewed by his immediate, unassuming predecessor, Pope Francis. The hopes of queer Catholics were shattered soon after, however, when it became apparent that some of his past views on our lives didn't quite merit the labels centrist and moderate, which the international media adopted to describe him. Two distinct assertions from the Holy Father, made at previous junctures in his long ministry, indicated conservative opinions on the place that gender and sexuality must hold in social life. In 2012, while Prior General of the Augustinian Order, then Father Prevost lamented to the World Synod of Bishops that the media was 'extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that [were] at odds with the Gospel.' Prevost listed the 'homosexual lifestyle' as a 'choice' that was particularly susceptible to such inordinate compassion. In a video produced by the Catholic News Service, interspersed with images from the TV shows Modern Family and The New Normal, which depict ordinary queer families, Prevost emphasised that 'alternative families comprised same-sex partners and their adopted children [were] so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programmes and cinema' within a larger spectrum of 'mass-media produced distortions of religious and ethical reality.' Also Read: Did Pope Leo XIV intentionally ignore an LGBTQ flag? Internet sleuths unearth 'truth' In 2017, after being appointed head of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, then Bishop Prevost objected to a government plan to upgrade the school curriculum to teach gender and sexuality. He advanced the case against 'the promotion of gender ideology', a shorthand for a range of reactionary fears in a world that increasingly did not view gender as binary. Such instruction, he argued, was confusing, 'because it [sought] to create genders that don't exist,' and leapt 'towards the ideology that [aimed] to eliminate all biological differences between male and female.' The severity of these pronouncements filled queer Catholics with a sense of dread. Apart from referring to us in language brimming with indignity, the new Pope appeared convinced that living the mundane routine of our daily lives openly constituted an ideological enterprise. This harked back to the spectre of the gay agenda, a pejorative, and damaging trope deployed by the American Christian right at one point, to view the queer community with alarm and suspicion. Also Read: Dalai Lama extends wishes to Pope Leo XIV Were Pope Leo XIV to continue this earlier approach into his papacy, it would reverse the remarkable progress made by the Catholic Church's public emphasis on empathy, inclusivity, and compassion under Pope Francis. The implications for queer Catholics in India could not be more striking. Dr Andy Silveira, a queer Catholic from Goa, maintains, 'For far too long, under the pretext of doctrine, inconsiderate words uttered by those on the pulpit have resulted in violence and even suicide. We desperately need to be open to the possibility of accepting two human beings, irrespective of their gender, choosing to love and commit themselves to each other.' On the line is Pope Francis' Fiducia Supplicans declaration, which, beginning in 2023 allowed priests to bless couples in 'irregular situations', including unmarried heterosexual and queer couples, as long as such blessings did not offer the impression of a marriage ceremony. Pope Leo XIV has taken a step back from his precursor: neither endorsing nor rejecting the declaration, holding that due to cultural differences, national bishops' conferences should have the authority to allow or disallow these blessings in their local contexts. Whether this approach may be viewed as withdrawing autonomy from ordained ministers, who may have performed such blessings without requiring further approval from the local hierarchy, remains to be seen. Also Read: Pope Leo XIV's first general audience date determined; Vatican releases complete schedule Given these explicit positions, the queer Catholics hope that Pope Leo XIV's ministry does not witness the absence of ecclesiastical embrace, of the kind they had grown to be used under Pope Francis' pontificate. Prior to the Conclave, the official College of Cardinals report noted, tactlessly, that Cardinal Prevost was 'somewhat less favourable to currying favour with the LGBTQ lobby than Francis was.' It also noted that he was being promoted as a potential compromise papabile, if leading conservative or progressive candidates were unable to garner enough votes. This report listed the blessing of queer couples as one of the 10 schismatic issues the Church confronted today, ranking second only to the ordination of women. While this grading suggests how central gender and sexuality are to Catholic identity in the 21st century, it also signifies that queer people still enjoy sufficient support within the hierarchy, just perhaps not enough to push an enlightened contender past the two-thirds majority required to become Pope. Propping up the reluctant optimism that many queer Catholics feel is the knowledge that Pope Francis' own receptiveness towards the queer community came largely after his election to the papacy. Back in 2013, in his first interaction with the media as Pope, he had said, 'If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?' Queer Catholics yearn for a similar orientation with the new Pope. 'I'm hopeful with Pope Leo XIV that there might deeper work done to embrace LGBT Catholics within the church,' remarked Dr. Silveira. Rachael Alphonso, an ally of the community from Mumbai, said that in spite of her initial disappointment, she now holds 'a renewed hope' for the Pope to see that queer people 'are equally beloved children of the Creator, and are inherently deserving of justice and full equality within our Church.' Also Read: Pope Leo XIV: Revisiting Cardinal Robert Prevost's two trips to Kochi Perhaps the pleas of queer Catholics will be heard, after all. After Pope Leo XIV's election, Catholic News Service made public a previously unreleased 2023 video interview with then Cardinal Prevost, in which he appears to have recalibrated his views on the 'homosexual lifestyle', under Pope Francis' influence. 'Given many things that have changed, I would say there's been a development in the sense of the need for the Church to open and to be welcoming,' Prevost said, 'and on that level, I think Pope 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. Doctrine hasn't changed, and people haven't said, yet, you know, we're looking for that kind of change, but we are looking to be more welcoming and more open, and to say all people are welcome in the church.' While it doesn't refer to queerness directly, this statement has gone some way in quelling the anxiety many queer Catholics had initially experienced. Upon taking office, Pope Leo XIV has also emphatically insisted on promoting a 'Synodal Church', i.e. a church whose structures are more inclusive and participatory. This appeal leaves the door open for us, queer Catholics to participate courageously within its structures, and make the case, parish by parish, diocese by diocese, for our lives to acknowledged and recognised by the wider Catholic community. Only through such grassroots efforts during this pontificate can we hope to keep our dreams of a just and all-encompassing Catholicism alive. Mario da Penha is a doctoral candidate in History at Rutgers University, and leads work on LGBTQIA+ issues within the Professionals' Congress. While raised Catholic, and grounded in the Church, he is a freewheeling person of faith without a fixed creed. The views expressed are personal. Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
Mint
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Pope Leo XIV under fire after 2012 anti-LGBTQ+ remarks resurface, pride flag snub video goes viral
Pope Leo XIV, who recently ascended to the papacy, has come under fresh scrutiny regarding his approach to LGBTQ+ community. A video circulated by the Daily Mail alleges that the new pontiff deliberately ignored a pride flag during a public event, sparking renewed debate about his attitudes towards LGBTQ+ communities. Declared pope earlier this year, Pope Leo XIV-formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost-has a history of conservative remarks on LGBTQ+ issues. In a 2012 address to the world synod of bishops, he criticised what he termed the 'homosexual lifestyle' and condemned the 'redefinition of marriage' as being 'at odds with the Gospel.' Pope Leo also blamed Western mass media for promoting sympathy towards abortion, euthanasia, and same-sex relationships, which he described as 'anti-Christian lifestyle choices.' Pope Leo's comments included criticism of popular TV shows portraying same-sex couples, calling for a 'new evangelisation' to counter these perceived distortions. 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'. 'Catholic pastors who preach against the legalization of abortion or the redefinition of marriage are portrayed as being ideologically driven, severe and uncaring,' Prevost had 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. These past statements stand in stark contrast to the more inclusive tone set by his predecessor, Pope Francis. Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has repeatedly emphasised compassion and acceptance towards LGBTQ+ individuals. Famously declaring, 'Who am I to judge?' when asked about gay people seeking God, Francis has also supported civil unions for same-sex couples and permitted blessings under certain circumstances. Pope Francis' papacy marked a significant shift in the Catholic Church's engagement with LGBTQ+ issues, fostering hope for greater inclusion and understanding. As Pope Leo XIV begins his tenure amid these controversies, many within the Church and LGBTQ+ communities are watching closely to see whether he will continue Pope Francis's legacy of outreach or revert to a more traditional stance. The recent video and his past remarks have intensified calls for clarity on how the new pope intends to lead the Church on matters of sexuality and inclusion.
Martechvibe
08-05-2025
- Business
- Martechvibe
15,384 Tools in Martech 2025: Balancing Boom and Bust?
If you thought martech in 2024 was crazy, 2025 brings mixed signals, if not stark contrasts. After the genAI meteorite hit planet Martech in 2024, it might seem like balance has returned, but only on the surface. 2025 shows a smooth 9% growth rate. The kind of growth we've grown used to over the past 13 years. But this year wasn't quite the business-as-usual growth story. There's more happening under that surface. Back to The New Normal? If we're 'back to normal,' it's a new kind of normal. The 2025 data tells a richer story. The returning question each year is whether the vendors on the landscape boom, balance, or bust. Yes, there was growth. Again, we saw a huge flood of new tools. We reviewed 11,133 candidate vendors, of which 2,489 made it to the landscape, that's 78% of the 2024 total. If you think that's high, last year the pile was even bigger: 12,919, representing 117% of the year before. But in 2023, the pile was 'only' 7,801. So yes, the boom continues. The question now: Did genAI cause it? But then, 1,211 tools were removed. That is the highest number in the past three years. This raises several questions about their profile. Why were they removed? Were they acquired, or did they go bust? Were they hyped genAI tools that didn't survive, or older ones that became obsolete? Were they low quality, or did even high-quality tools fail to keep up? And then there's a third angle. If you think boom and bust happen simultaneously are mixed signals, you are in for a surprise. We discovered one martech category that completely ignored boom, balance, and bust. Product Management took its own unique growth path to stardom. Because it didn't follow the pattern of dramatic rise or fall, it might look like balance, but that's deceiving. When we stepped back and looked across ten years of martech data, we finally saw it hiding in plain sight. Product Management tools help teams manage product lifecycles. We'll explore why their role has become so important in these times of low code and AI. We may conclude that the landscape was hit by all three powerful forces at the same time. 2025 didn't deliver a single storyline. It delivered three contrasting ones. Martech is never done. Not in your company, and not in the market. Martech continues to evolve. We have to stay sharp. The GenAI Boom Continues Wait! Not so fast. Sure, there was a flood of new tools. But we can't call it a genAI boom without also looking at the other side of the coin: the bust. Maybe more genAI tools were removed than added? So, if we take a look at the 1,211 tools removed, let's align our gut with the data and see which common assumptions we need to dismantle. 'Ah, I see. Those hyped genAI tools went bust.' Not quite. More than half (56%) of the removed tools were founded between 2010 and 2020. 93.8% of the removed tools were older than five years, founded before 2020. GenAI only started breaking through in 2022. So no, these weren't failed genAI experiments. These weren't overnight launches. Most had been around for years. Many simply ran out of runway. As with many small businesses, cash flow remains a killer. No more funding, no more growth, no more time. 'Ah, I see. All that Content AI went bust.' Actually, content AI is still booming. In content marketing, 279 new tools were added, while only 140 were removed. In video marketing, 141 were added and just 31 removed. 'Ah, I see. All those tools were acquired.' Not really. Mergers and acquisitions didn't drive most removals. The data shows 84% of the tools simply went out of business. Only 10.2% were merged or acquired. Another 5.8% pivoted to other industries, like fintech or edutech, or shifted their business model (e.g., from software to agency services). Most tools weren't bought; they became unnecessary or were outperformed by newer (genAI-powered?) solutions. 'Ah, I see. The low-rated ones went bust.' Not so fast. Here's the twist: 52% of the removed tools had user ratings above 4.5 on G2. In fact, 84.8% scored above 4.0. That's not just a decent rating, that's beloved by their users. 'Ah, I see. The flood of new tools came with low quality.' The opposite is true. The flood of tools over the past decade hasn't dragged quality down. It pushed it up. The younger the tool, the higher the rating (0.68 percentage point delta). But high ratings alone don't guarantee survival. Research shows the two most common reasons for failure remain: no clear market need, and running out of cash. Quality isn't always enough. Product Management's Rise in the Martech Stack Call it a silent breakthrough. Product Management has been hiding in plain sight. Amid modest net growth and record-high tool removals in 2025, one martech category quietly stood out. It didn't explode in vendor count. It didn't ride the genAI hype cycle. But it doubled its importance in practice. How? Our data shows that Product Management tools — used to manage product lifecycles — have become quietly essential in modern martech stacks. Despite a stable number of vendors, their actual presence in stacks nearly doubled over the last decade, from 23% before 2020 to 42% after. That's the largest leap in stack prevalence across all 49 Martech categories! That's not all. The Product Management category also showed the fastest year-over-year improvement in G2 ratings across the entire landscape — up 3.2%, compared to a global average of just 1%. Tools like Jira, Aha!, Pendo , and Productboard are no longer fringe additions — they're becoming core parts of how marketers and ops teams build and manage martech systems. These tools support the full product lifecycle: roadmap planning, backlog prioritisation, onboarding flows, digital adoption tracking, UX insights, and even co-browsing features. It's a subtle signal, but one that matters. These tools are no longer just for developers. They're now essential for marketing teams building their own martech in-house. They're changing the stack from the inside out. Welcome to the rise of the Hypertail — a world where brands don't just buy martech, they build it. Low-code and no-code platforms empower teams to assemble tailored internal solutions. These tools are often invisible externally, but deeply embedded within companies. And with every new internal product comes the need for proper lifecycle management. Brands are becoming builders. And commercial Product Management tools are the backbone of this shift. This isn't just a breakout success — it's a signal of where martech is heading: toward more customisation, more internal development, filling in the gaps in their stacks, quick experimentation when needed, building bespoke solutions for brand-specific experiences, and more experiences managed like, well… products. ALSO READ: Composability is Not a Strategy, But a Daily Reality Frans Riemersma is the Founder of Martech Tribe. With over two decades of experiences, he is designing Marketing Technology stacks for companies like HP, Adidas, Audi, Basf, Unilever, Philips, AbnAmro, IKEA, Standard Bank, Swift, Volvo, HP, and Philips. View More 2025GenAIMarTechMarTech stackProduct Managementtechnology platforms
