Over a grainy international phone call, I could hear people singing at St. Peter’s Square as I spoke with BBC journalist Mark Lowen about Pope Francis. It was April 21, and I, along with two other queer Catholic advocates, Max Kuzma and Simon Fung, were reflecting on what Francis had meant for each of us and our hopes for the future of the Catholic Church.
As the world listened, I said openly and defiantly that queer and transgender children would continue to be born into Catholic families. It would be up to the next pope to tend and foster the seeds of inclusion that Francis planted.
I was nervous but determined. For many queer Catholics, inclusion and affirmation of who we are and the deconstruction of systems like conversion therapy is a matter of life and death. Simon, who is the host of the podcast Dear Alana, examines one such story: Alana Chen was a 24-year-old queer Catholic woman who died by suicide in 2019. Chen, like so many other queer Catholics, had suffered years of conversion therapy.
I did not know if the next pope would be equipped to address crises like this one. During Pope Francis’ papacy, a newly released document titled Dignitas Infinita denied the existence of trans, nonbinary, and intersex people, and called gender-affirming care a denial of human dignity when in actuality, gender-affirming care saves lives.
On May 8, white smoke billowed from a Vatican chimney as Max, Simon, and I held our breath, wondering if the person who the cardinals elected would acknowledge us queer Catholics. When Cardinal Robert Prevost became the pope and took the name Leo XIV, I really only knew that he was American. Would he continue Francis’ work of bridge building between the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ+ community, or would he rail against it?
Since May 8, I have been feeling relieved and apprehensive. Relieved because Pope Leo remains an advocate for migrants and other marginalized communities, but apprehensive because on May 16, he stated that a “stable union between a man and a woman” is the foundation of a family. Such a statement denies the existence and beauty of queer families.
In his first address, Leo called for “building bridges,” perhaps a subtle nod to Francis’ intention to foster connection and community as opposed to exclusion and separation. In a May 2025 interview with me, Father James Martin, a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ Catholics and founder of the LGBTQ+ Catholic resource Outreach, told me that his sense was that “[Pope Leo XIV] was using the metaphor in the most general sense; indeed, Pope Francis often said we should build bridges, not walls.”
Whether or not it was meant to apply in general or as a specific reference to building bridges with LGBTQ+ Catholics, the phrase spoke to LGBTQ+ Catholics. In 2017, Martin published Building a Bridge, a book about how the Catholic church can enter into a relationship of respect, compassion, and sensitivity with LGBTQ+ people. The key metaphor of “building a bridge” is described by Martin as the Church’s need to “reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration.”
Since then, “building bridges” has been a key phrase for intentionally reaching out to and including queer and trans people in the institutional church. In a 2017 interview with America Magazine, Martin stated that “the onus for bridge building is on the institutional church.”
While Martin did not have knowledge of Leo using the bridge-building metaphor as an intentional nod to Francis and his openness to the LGBTQ+ community, Martin did share words of wisdom and hope for queer Catholics like me who are hesitant about Leo based on comments he made more than a decade prior: “I hope that they know that the cardinals have elected someone who is open, smart, pastoral, and has wide experience,” Martin told me. “Also, he is firmly committed to the synodal process, which invites the church to listen to everyone. I also think that people need to remember that what he said and did as a cardinal may not be what he says and does as a pope.”
As queer and trans Catholics will acknowledge, Francis started off toeing the Church’s anti-LGBTQ+ line, but he appeared to back away from it over the duration of his papacy. Martin said in a 2018 interview with New Ways Ministry — an outreach organization dedicated to equity, inclusion, and justice for LGBTQ+ people — that Francis meeting with LGBTQ+ people was critical because it showed his willingness to meet LGBTQ+ people publicly. From my perspective, hearing such stories pushes the Church to deconstruct its homophobia.
While Francis famously asked “Who am I to judge?” to reporters in 2013 when referencing the sexual orientation of priests, and met with trans Catholics in 2024, including my friend Max, he also oversaw the release of Dignitas Infinita, a document denying the existence and dignity of trans, nonbinary, and intersex Catholics. Francis also used a homophobic slur not once but twice during his papacy.
That being said, I and many other queer Catholics acknowledge that Francis’ actions to build bridges with the LGBTQ+ community should be commended. While I do not believe his actions went far enough, I do see them as being inclusive to a certain extent. From my perspective, Francis opened the door as far as it could possibly be opened.
With Leo, we are hopeful that things will become more inclusive. A first step to pursuing such inclusion would be Leo taking time to meet with us as Francis did.
Many LGBTQ+ Catholics like myself hope that he continues the legacy of Francis: a legacy of generosity and openness that seeks to build bridges.
One of the best examples of Francis’ willingness to build bridges was when he sent a handwritten letter of support to Martin ahead of the 2023 Outreach conference. The letter was published in the program and meant a great deal to Catholics like me who were reconnecting with Catholicism after years of hurt. In the letter, Francis sent “prayers and good wishes” to participants just like me, who spoke on a panel about queer Catholic women. There is no Outreach conference this year; Martin and the Outreach executive director Michael O’Loughlin are hosting the first Outreach retreat, but they are hopeful that Leo will be encouraging and supportive of their mission to open the Church to LGBTQ+ people without reservation.
As Martin said, “I hope that Pope Leo will continue the very positive legacy of Pope Francis, who helped to make the church more of a place where LGBTQ Catholics, and their families and friends, feel welcomed and valued.”
Emma Cieslik (she/her) is a queer, disabled religious scholar and museum worker based in Washington, D.C.
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