All Rev'd Up: Pope Francis 'Flip-Flops' On LGBTQ Inclusivity In The Catholic Church

Vatican Gay Unions — In this Feb. 2, 2021 photo, Pope Francis celebrates a Mass with members of religious institutions on the occasion of the celebration of the World Day of Consecrated Life, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. The Vatican has decreed, Monday, March 15, 2021, that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.”

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

March 15, 2021

Updated August 07, 2023

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has been met with cautious optimism by LGBTQ groups. He stated in 2013 that, " If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?"He also called for the creation of civil union laws for same-sex couples in a documentary released last year.

But on Monday, Francis' stance appeared to shift when he approved a decree from the Vatican which said that Catholic priests cannot bless same-sex unions.

The Rev. Irene Monroe and the Rev. Emmett G. Price III spoke to Boston Public Radio on Monday about this latest edict from the Roman Catholic Church.

"What bothers me about this pope is he, to me, is the consummate flip-flopper, because while he will have a welcoming tone, it doesn't match up with his unwelcoming church policies that he upholds," Monroe said. "He has to understand that it's not enough to say you embrace us in words. He has to also do it in action."

Price pointed to previous examples that signaled Francis might be more open to LGBTQ inclusivity in the Catholic church. "This is really disgraceful, because he turns against his own personal beliefs and his own stated opinions in this area," he said.

Monroe said that the decree adds to the church's effort to hold back modernity.

"Clearly they didn't get the message in the scripture that 'love is love,'" she said. "If the Catholic hierarchy doesn't get anything else, they need to get this: Gay people love Jesus just as much as straight people."

Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist, the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology. Price is a professor of worship, church and culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by GBH.