Robert Prevost has been elected as pope following the death of Pope Francis last month – but he has previously expressed anti-LGBTQ+ views.
Prevost, who is the first American to hold the position of head of the Catholic Church, will be known as Pope Leo XIV.
Chicago-born Prevost, who is the 267th pontiff and also a Peruvian citizen, was elected on Thursday (8 May) after a two-day papal conclave.
Considered a centrist and reformer who was close to Pope Francis, Prevost, 69, was not considered a frontrunner to be elected as pontiff and does not have an extensive public record of speaking on LGBTQ+ issues.
However, The New York Times reports that in 2012, Prevost was critical of entertainment media that held “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,” including the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”
His appointment comes at a crucial time for the Catholic Church, which is grappling with growing internal division over its traditional conservative doctrine and the relatively more inclusive tone adopted by Pope Francis.
During his decade of papal service, Pope Francis oversaw a Catholic Church in flux on acceptance of LGBTQ+ people.
Francis made a number of statements and gestures aimed at pushing the church to be more welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, but has remained regressive in many areas.
He met frequently with many LGBTQ+ Catholics, those who minister to them and prominent advocates in the community.
Pope Francis said being gay is “not a crime” before describing the criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people as “wrong”, he echoed these views when denouncing Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, saying “discrimination is a sin, and violence against the LGBTIQ communities is unacceptable”.
Addressing crowds in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican following his election on Thursday, Robert Prevost declared: “I would like this greeting of peace to reach all your hearts and families… and people around the world. May peace be with you.”
LGBTQ+ Catholics and other queer people around the world will be watching closely in the coming weeks to see whether Pope Leo XIV’s peaceful greeting does indeed extend to them.
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