LGBTQ+ rights and ‘anti Trump’: Just how liberal actually is the newly elected Pope Leo?

Trump supporters are calling him ‘Woke Marxist Pope’

2 weeks ago

With the 2025 conclave to elect the new pope, the real question about why it mattered is what values the elected pope will have. In Pope Francis’ tenure as the pope, he was responsible for the Catholic church becoming more modern in its values and treatment of LGBTQ+ issues compared to the days of the past. Similar to how the film Conclave portrayed, the election in this conclave would have huge implications on if the church would continue in Francis’ ideology or regress to a more conservative way of thinking. Chicago born Robert Prevost was appointed as Pope Leo XIV – and he was a bit of an outlier in who people were expecting to be named. So, is the new pope liberal and where does he stand on important issues, and if he is liberal then how liberal even is he?

LGBTQ+ rights

The Catholic Church under Pope Francis made big advancements in tolerance and acceptance when it comes to LGBTQ+ people – but the new Pope Leo is seemingly less progressive. Which is, for me at least, a cause for concern. Some quotes have surfaced from 2012 where Cardinal Prevost then said when addressing all bishops “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”.

He continued to say “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.

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He lamented further “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children are so benignly and sympathetically portrayed in television programs and cinema today”. Hardly the liberal progressive Pope people were hoping for – but a lot can change in the years that have followed since these comments, and he may feel differently regarding these issues now.

Francis DeBernardo, the executive director of New Ways Ministry, an LGBTQ+ Catholic group in Maryland, released a statement regarding the election of Pope Leo and said “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.”

Photo by James Veysey/Shutterstock

Trump and MAGA

Despite some initial celebration over the fact that the Pope was American, the Trump fans quickly branded Leo a “Woke Marxist Pope” because he has widely criticised vice president JD Vance in tweets before he won the conclave.

“The new Pope once retweeted a post about how we need to keep praying for career criminal & drug addict George Floyd,” Laura Loomer – right wing mouthpiece in Trump’s inner circle raged. “The tweet said, ‘May all hatred, violence and prejudice be eradicated.’ What prejudice? Is that another way to spell FENTANYL OVERDOSE? MARXIST POPE!”