VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has poured cold water on expectations of sweeping reform within the Catholic Church, telling the faithful that doctrine on gay marriage and women deacons will remain unchanged — at least for now.
In his first major interview since his election four months ago, the American-born pontiff said that while many Catholics wanted change, the Church must tread carefully.
“People want the Church doctrine to change, want attitudes to change,” Pope Leo said in an interview for the book Pope Leo XIV: Global Citizen, Missionary of the 21st Century. “But we have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says about any given question.”
The comments mark a shift in style from his predecessor, Pope Francis, who died in April at 88. Francis angered conservatives with efforts to open the Church to groups long treated as outsiders, including same-sex couples, whom he allowed to receive blessings under tightly restricted conditions.
By contrast, Pope Leo described any change to teaching on marriage or sexuality as “highly unlikely, certainly in the near future.” He insisted the Church would continue to support “the traditional family,” defined as “father, mother, and children.”
The new pontiff also cooled expectations on the debate over women deacons, a reform widely discussed under Francis. “I at the moment don’t have an intention of changing the teaching of the Church on the topic,” he said, though he added he remained open to listening.
At 70, Pope Leo inherits a Church deeply divided between reformists and traditionalists. He acknowledged that issues around LGBTQ Catholics were “highly polarising” and said he was determined “not to continue to polarise or promote polarisation in the Church.” Earlier this month, he quietly met American priest James Martin, a prominent advocate for LGBTQ Catholics, but did not address a pilgrimage of more than 1,000 gay Catholics who came to Rome.
On the long-running scandal of clerical sexual abuse, Pope Leo described it as “a real crisis,” but said his papacy would not revolve around the issue. He stressed that priests accused of abuse must be considered innocent until proven guilty. “We can’t make the whole Church focus exclusively on this issue,” he said.
Reflecting on his early months as pontiff, Pope Leo admitted the adjustment had been daunting. “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 said.
Some responsibilities, he added, came more easily than others. The Vatican’s strained finances did not keep him awake at night, thanks to what he called “a bit of knowledge and background in lots of different kinds of financial matters.” But he expressed unease at the widening global wealth gap, pointing to news that Elon Musk could soon become the world’s first trillionaire. “If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble,” he warned.
For now, Pope Leo appears intent on cooling tensions rather than igniting fresh debate. His message is clear: change may come in time, but unity comes first.
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