Pope Leo Holds Meeting with Same-Sex Couple
Private audience draws attention for perceived continuation of Pope Francis–era approach to LGBT issues.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV recently received two men in a same-sex civil union during a private audience, prompting renewed debate over the pontiff’s pastoral direction on LGBT matters.
Alex Capecelatro, CEO of Josh.ai, wrote on Facebook that he and his partner, Brian D. Stevens, “felt received with warmth and kindness” when they informed the Pope of their civil marriage. Photos of the meeting were shared online, and the pair attended as part of a delegation connected to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles.
According to reporting from Letters from Leo, the Substack of liberal Catholic writer Christopher Hale, the Pope "nodded approvingly" when the men spoke of the influence of Jesuit priest James Martin’s LGBT outreach. The same report noted that Leo did not explicitly reference Church teaching on marriage or sexuality during the encounter.
As noted by LifeSite, the audience comes amid a series of recent appointments seen as signaling a pastoral continuity with Pope Francis. In October, the Vatican named a bishop who has supported LGBT-themed liturgies as a consultant to the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. That same month, Leo appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich — long known for his more liberal stances on ministry to LGBT Catholics — to the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State.
Pope Leo has also met personally with Martin, who later said the encounter suggested the new pontiff would maintain Francis’s openness toward LGBT-identifying Catholics.
Some Catholic commentators have expressed alarm. LifeSiteNews Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen argued that such gestures risk “quietly cementing a false new direction,” warning that approaches like Martin’s conflict with longstanding Church teaching.
Officially, the Catholic Church teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman, that homosexual acts are gravely sinful, and that same-sex attraction is “objectively disordered.”
Previously, UOJ reported that Pope Leo will hold a special lunch at the Vatican with transgender activists tomorrow.
