Global News

Lima (AFP) – Pope Leo XIV sought to reassure Catholics in his first interview published Thursday that he would not change key doctrine on gay marriage and women deacons, after his predecessor's divisive papacy.

The US-born pontiff, elected four months ago, struck a different tone to outspoken Pope Francis, whose attempts to open the Church for the modern era enraged traditionalists.

In an interview with US journalist Elise Ann Allen for the book "Pope Leo XIV: Global Citizen, Missionary of the 21st Century," Leo admitted that "people want the church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change."

But he said "we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says about any given question".

Leo said he shared Francis's desire to welcome everyone in to the Church, "but I don't invite a person in because they are or are not of any specific identity."

His predecessor, who died in April aged 88, made numerous statements welcoming people traditionally seen as "sinners" into the Church.

But Leo said it was "highly unlikely, certainly in the near future," that Church doctrine on sexuality or marriage would change.

"I think that the Church's teaching will continue as it is," he said in the book, published Thursday in Spanish in Peru, where Leo lived for nearly 20 years as a missionary.

The decision by Francis to authorize blessings for same-sex couples in very limited circumstances sparked a backlash from conservatives, particularly in Africa and the United States.

Leo -- elected as the Church grappled with serious internal divisions -- said "any issue dealing with the LGBTQ questions is highly polarizing," adding: "I'm trying not to continue to polarize or promote polarization in the Church."

The pontiff received American priest James Martin, one of the leading advocates for homosexual Catholics, in a private audience this month.

But Leo did not publicly address the approximately 1,400 LGBTQ+ Catholics who came on pilgrimage to the Vatican.

He stressed support for "the traditional family," which "is father, mother, and children."

Leo, 70, also dampened expectations regarding the hot-button issue of women deacons, a potentially historic reform which Francis had encouraged Catholic experts to explore.

"I at the moment don't have an intention of changing the teaching of the Church on the topic," Leo said, though he added he was "certainly willing to continue to listen to people."

The pope addressed one of the biggest scandals to have dogged the Catholic Church in recent decades -- sexual abuse of children by priests -- but said it would not be the main focus of his papacy.

Francis enacted a series of measures aimed at battling clerical pedophilia during his 12 years as pope, though victims' associations said he did not go far enough.

While Leo said the clerical abuse was "a real crisis," he stressed that accused priests were innocent until proven guilty and must be "protected" as such, and "we can't make the whole church focus exclusively on this issue."

The US pope reflected on his new life as head of the Catholic Church, living in the tiny Vatican city state, and meeting regularly with world leaders.

"It's quite frankly not an easy thing to give up everything that you were and had in the past and take on a role that's 24 hours a day, basically, and so public," he revealed.

Some bits of the job were easier than others, he said, adding he was just dipping a "big toe into the shallow end" of internal Church governance.

The Vatican's financial woes did not keep him awake a night, because of his "bit of knowledge and background in lots of different kinds of financial matters."

But he expressed concern about the ever-growing income divide, noting the recent news that Elon Musk was set to become the world's first trillionaire.

"If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we're in big trouble," he said.