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Pope Leo XIV leads a special mass in the gardens of the papal residence on July 09, 2025 in Albano Laziale, Italy.
A Vatican official spoke with a reporter about the topic recently.
Under Pope Leo XIV, the Catholic Church will continue to bless same-sex couples.
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The head of the Vatican's doctrine office, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, was asked by Italian news outlet Il Messaggero if Leo would retreat from a decree by the late Pope Francis that priests could bless couples of the same gender, so long as ceremonies were not weddings.
“I really don't think so — the declaration will remain,” Fernández said, in comments picked up by National Catholic Reporter.
He referenced the Fiducia Supplicans released by Francis in December of 2023, which reset direction on how Catholic priests recognize same-sex couples.
Speculation about the future of recognition of LGBTQ+ relationships has run rampant in outlets covering the Catholic Church since the election of the first American pope.
Related: U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost becomes Pope Leo XIV. Here's what he's said about LGBTQ+ people
Related: Gay couple photobombs Pope Leo XIV celebration with a kiss on live TV in St. Peter's Square
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg in May predicted Pope Leo was unlikely to annul Pope Francis’ teachings but that the past declaration could be “readapted.”
Pope Leo told the Vatican diplomatic corps he also maintained the church’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriages, and that family is “founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman.” That also remains consistent with Pope Francis.
The new pope's record before his papacy offered mixed signals about how closely he would adhere to Francis’ legacy, one that widely encouraged more acceptance of LGBTQ followers in the church.
During Francis’ papacy, Pope Leo, then Cardinal Robert Prevost, has an “ambiguous” record on blessing same-sex couples, according to a College of Cardinals report.
“Although he expressed reservations about ‘sympathy for beliefs and practices that contradict the gospel,’ Cardinal Prevost showed less clarity about Fiducia Supplicans, stressing the need for national bishops’ conferences to have doctrinal authority to interpret and apply such directives in their local contexts, given cultural differences. He therefore did not fully endorse nor reject the document,” the report stated.
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