Pope Leo shifts church focus

Pope Leo XIV is signaling that his papacy will spend less time on sexual morality and more on war, inequality and human dignity. (reuters.com) Reuters reported on April 27 that the shift came into focus after Leo’s four-nation Africa tour, where he denounced despotism and conflict. On the flight home Thursday, he said the church’s unity or division should not revolve around sexual matters. (reuters.com) Leo said questions of justice and equality take priority over that issue, while still backing Pope Francis’ 2023 decision to allow informal, case-by-case blessings for same-sex couples. He also said he did not want those blessings formalized further because that could deepen division. (reuters.com) That is a notable change in emphasis for a church whose bishops and Vatican offices have long treated abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage as defining public battles. Reuters noted the contrast with Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 Africa trip, when Benedict defended the church’s condom ban during the HIV/AIDS crisis. (reuters.com) Leo reinforced that broader posture on April 27 at the Vatican, where he met Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally and prayed with her in the Urban VIII Chapel. Vatican News said he urged Catholics and Anglicans to keep working through differences “no matter how intractable they may appear.” (vaticannews.va) (archbishopofcanterbury.org) The Vatican tied that meeting to the 60th anniversary of the 1966 encounter between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey, a landmark in modern Catholic-Anglican relations. Mullally’s office said her Rome pilgrimage was aimed at continuing that ecumenical path. (vaticannews.va) (archbishopofcanterbury.org) A day earlier, Leo gave the same message inside the church. At a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 26, he ordained 10 priests and told them: “You are a channel, not a filter.” (catholicworldreport.com) He told the ordinands to keep the church’s doors open, welcome people rather than exclude them, and avoid becoming obstacles to those trying to enter. Catholic World Report said eight of the 10 were ordained for the Diocese of Rome. (catholicworldreport.com) Taken together, the Africa comments, the Anglican meeting and the ordination homily sketch an early set of priorities: diplomacy abroad, openness in parish life and fewer culture-war tests at the center of Catholic debate. (reuters.com) (vaticannews.va) (catholicworldreport.com)