Heretical ‘Catholic’ site highlights Pope Leo’s ‘LGBTQ+ record’
The heterodox pro-LGBT group New Ways Ministry (NWM) has published a chronology of Pope Leo XIV’s “LGBTQ+ record,” including actions by which the pontiff has appeared to downplay Church teaching on homosexuality and gender.
Early in his papacy, the timeline notes, Leo appointed Father Thomas Hennen as bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon (NWM has misspelt Hennen’s name). The group highlights Hennen’s history of support for so-called “LGBTQ+ ministry,” including his part in drafting pastoral guidelines for “sexual and gender minorities” in the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa.
NWM praised this act at the time as “strikingly positive,” describing it as “synodality in action.” These guidelines did not make any mention of the fact that persons with homosexual inclinations are called to live chastely.
New Ways Ministry noted that, in December 2025, Leo continued “Pope Francis’ tradition of inviting [so-called] transgender participants to the Vatican’s annual meal for the poor” and that he met with two “married” homosexuals.
New Ways Ministry noted that, in December 2025, Leo continued “Pope Francis’ tradition of inviting [so-called] transgender participants to the Vatican’s annual meal for the poor” and that he met with two “married” homosexuals.
At the time, when the men shared with the pope how much Father James Martin, S.J.’s, pro-LGBT activism “means to them,” Leo reportedly “nodded approvingly at the mention of that [so-called] ministry,” according to Letters from Leo, a website authored by Democratic Party operative Christopher Hale.
Hale asserted that Leo did not clarify Church teaching during the audience but appeared to accept the two homosexuals as-is.
New Ways Ministry also highlighted Leo’s downplaying of the importance of sexual morality in April in 2026, during an interview on a plane ride back from a visit to Africa.
“First of all, I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters,” the pontiff said. “We tend to think that when the Church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual.
Hale asserted that Leo did not clarify Church teaching during the audience but appeared to accept the two homosexuals as-is.
New Ways Ministry also highlighted Leo’s downplaying of the importance of sexual morality in April in 2026, during an interview on a plane ride back from a visit to Africa.
“First of all, I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the Church should not revolve around sexual matters,” the pontiff said. “We tend to think that when the Church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual.
And in reality, 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,” he continued, contradicting Catholic teaching.
NVM has documented several other instances of Leo’s direct or indirect support for LGBT-identified individuals, in which his stance on homosexuality or transgender ideology is ambiguous.
NVM has documented several other instances of Leo’s direct or indirect support for LGBT-identified individuals, in which his stance on homosexuality or transgender ideology is ambiguous.
These include private comments to Father James Martin, S.J., supporting the “welcome” of LGBT individuals, and comments to Bishop Francesco Savino, the vice president of the Italian Bishops' Conference, telling him to “Go and celebrate with those brothers and sisters,” referring to LGBT-identified people who had come to St. Peter’s Basilica.
In fact, NVM’s chronology of Leo’s LGBT-related actions is incomplete. For example, Leo promoted a bishop who has supported LGBT-themed liturgies to a consulting position within the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, the Vatican announced on October 2.
The same month, Leo appointed the pro-LGBT Cardinal Blase Cupich to the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State. In 2015, during the Synod of the Family, Cupich proposed a pathway for both homosexual and divorced and “remarried” couples to receive the Eucharist in accordance with their “consciences.” Despite this, the group has enjoyed a sweeping rehabilitation under Francis, who has written letters of support and even met with Gramick along with her heterodox collaborators at the Vatican.
In 2010, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) declared that NWM “has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church” to speak on the LGBT issue.
“No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice,” wrote the late Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., archbishop of Chicago, on behalf of the USCCB.
“Their claim to be Catholic only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination,” Cardinal George said. “Accordingly, I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”
The homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, adding:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
The Catechism is equally clear on what constitutes a family, stating, “A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. This institution is before any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it.”
In fact, NVM’s chronology of Leo’s LGBT-related actions is incomplete. For example, Leo promoted a bishop who has supported LGBT-themed liturgies to a consulting position within the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, the Vatican announced on October 2.
The same month, Leo appointed the pro-LGBT Cardinal Blase Cupich to the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State. In 2015, during the Synod of the Family, Cupich proposed a pathway for both homosexual and divorced and “remarried” couples to receive the Eucharist in accordance with their “consciences.” Despite this, the group has enjoyed a sweeping rehabilitation under Francis, who has written letters of support and even met with Gramick along with her heterodox collaborators at the Vatican.
In 2010, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) declared that NWM “has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church” to speak on the LGBT issue.
“No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice,” wrote the late Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., archbishop of Chicago, on behalf of the USCCB.
“Their claim to be Catholic only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination,” Cardinal George said. “Accordingly, I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”
The homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, adding:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
The Catechism is equally clear on what constitutes a family, stating, “A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. This institution is before any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it.”
