A Critique of Leo XIV’s Comments on Changing Church Doctrine

“You are in the wrong church, you’re not A TRUE Shepherd, you’re one of many wolfs in sheep’s clothing. If you want to change the centuries of tradition and sound doctrine and sound magister of the HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH, you’re a Protestant reformist modernist…. You believe in a god who accepts sin, but doesn’t accept repentance and penance. You believe in a god who celebrates the sinner and the sin, I’m sorry, this is not my GOD. FROM: A sinner like everyone else, repentant and with a love for the true Church of Christ, which made me return and accept my misery, the Church did not applaud my sin; on the contrary, it made me detest it, hate it and makes me work hard to achieve my SALVATION, which obviously your god could never give to me or to anybody.”

The above quote is one of several posted to Fr. James Martin’s Instagram page, taking the Jesuit priest to task for lauding statements Pope Leo XIV made in an interview with CruxNow.com Senior Correspondent Elise Ann Allen (Sept. 18). Martin is, of course, well known for his support of the LGBTQ+ community and his advocacy for changing Church doctrine on sexual morality.

The quote gives a hint of the controversy the interview sparked. Allen asked the Pope if he would continue the tone set by his predecessor, Francis, regarding LGBTQ+ issues. Leo replied, “I think we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says about any given question. I find it highly unlikely, certainly in the near future, that the Church’s doctrine in terms of what the Church teaches about sexuality, what the Church teaches about marriage, [will change]” (brackets in original).

Leo’s comments are troubling in that they easily can be interpreted as: Once Catholics change their attitude toward the Church’s doctrine that bans homosexual acts, the Church can consider changing her doctrine to approve such behavior. Though we cannot expect such a change “in the near future,” at some point the Church could indeed change her doctrine regarding the objective immorality of homosexual acts.