Pope Leo XIV indicated that the Catholic Church’s unity should not revolve around “sexual matters,” and that social justice and equality would take priority, in an airborne news conference returning from Africa, according to an Associated Press report. The remarks came as the Vatican published a synod working group report that included, for the first time, the detailed personal stories of two gay married Catholics — a Portuguese man who endured conversion therapy and an American who criticized his pastoral counseling — and as German bishops pressed ahead with guidelines for blessing same-sex couples that the Vatican’s doctrine office warned would effectively legitimize those relationships.
The report, summarizing the work of experts on controversial topics from Pope Francis’s reform process, has no binding authority. But its inclusion of LGBTQ+ testimony was cheered by advocates. “If the Catholic Church has begun to listen to LGBTQ Catholics as part of its methodology, the church has already moved forward in a significant way,” wrote the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit who has spearheaded U.S. outreach to LGBTQ Catholics. Martin called the document’s publication “a significant step forward” and said there was no contradiction between the Vatican’s 2023 declaration allowing brief, non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples — Fiducia Supplicans — and the synod’s call to listen to LGBTQ experiences.
Conservative critics saw it differently. Bishop Joseph Strickland, whom Francis removed as bishop of Tyler, Texas, called the report “deeply alarming” in a post on his personal website titled “An Emergency in the Church,” arguing that church teaching on homosexuality comes from God, not prejudice. “To suggest that the sin does not consist in the same-sex relationship itself is not merely confusing language. It is a direct assault upon Catholic moral doctrine and upon the words of Scripture itself,” he wrote. Separately, Courage International, a Catholic pastoral group that helps people with same-sex attraction live chastely, said it was “a great sadness” that the Vatican document contained a “false and unjust depiction” of its work, denying any involvement in reparative therapy.
The tensions were further exposed by the German bishops’ guidelines, published in April 2025, which directed priests to bless same-sex couples in ceremonies that include liturgical readings, prayers and acclamation. The Vatican’s doctrine chief, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, said in a 2024 letter made public this week that the guidelines’ rituals resembled a wedding and “effectively legitimizes the status of these couples,” contradicting the 2023 declaration that permitted only brief, non-liturgical blessings to individuals. Fernández stopped short of vetoing the guidelines outright, offering only “observations.”
Pope Leo met May 8 with German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who had recommended priests in his archdiocese use the guidelines. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said Wednesday that talk of sanctions against German priests was “premature” and that dialogue was ongoing. In his airborne press conference, Leo said, “It is very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters. I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.”
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, called Leo’s remarks “a decisive turn away from the church’s obsession with sexual matters.” He also welcomed what he described as Leo’s “measured” approach to the German disagreement, noting that the pope “did not condemn or even criticize German church leaders. He simply said there is disagreement, and that this is not a cause for disunity.” DeBernardo said both the shift toward social justice and the fostering of a more collegial church were “good news for LGBTQ+ Catholics.”