Pope Francis sought to make LGBTQ+ people more welcome, but church doctrine didn't change much

The papacy of Pope Francis ended with the same core doctrine for LGBTQ+ people that he inherited: The Catholic Church still rejected same-sex marriage and condemned any sexual relations between gay or lesbian partners as “intrinsically disordered.”

Yet unlike his predecessors, Francis incrementally conveyed through his actions, formal statements and occasional casual remarks that he wanted the church to be a more welcoming place for them.

Among activists, there was frustration over the lack of a doctrinal breakthrough, but still there was gratitude this week for his unabashed warmth toward them.

Francis, who died Monday, “was a transformational leader who included LGBTQ people in historic ways,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of the U.S.-based advocacy group GLAAD, who met twice with the pope. “His principles of empathetic listening, inclusion, and compassion are exactly what this divided world needs right now.”

Many conservative Catholic leaders were wary of his LGBTQ+ outreach — and sometimes were angry and defiant, such as when he decided in 2023 to let priests bless same-sex couples.

Africa’s bishops united in refusing to implement the Vatican declaration, saying same-sex relationships were “contrary to the will of God.” Individual bishops in Eastern Europe, Latin America and elsewhere also voiced opposition.

The declaration restated traditional church teaching that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and woman. But it allowed priests to offer spontaneous blessings to same-sex couples seeking God’s grace, provided such blessings aren’t confused with the rites of a wedding.

Francis later acknowledged the declaration had encountered resistance; he faulted opposing bishops for refusing to open a dialogue about it.

“Sometimes decisions are not accepted," he said in a TV interview. "But in most cases, when you don’t accept a decision, it’s because you don’t understand.”

“This has happened with these last decisions about blessing everyone,” Francis added. “The Lord blesses everyone.”

The beneficiaries of Francis' welcoming attitude included a community of transgender women — many of them Latin American migrants who worked in Rome as prostitutes — who visited his weekly general audiences and were given VIP seats.

“Before, the church was closed to us. They didn’t see us as normal people. They saw us as the devil,” said Colombia-born Andrea Paola Torres Lopez. “Then Pope Francis arrived, and the doors of the church opened for us.”

The pope’s mixed legacy was epitomized by the Vatican’s 2023 synod bringing together hundreds of bishops and lay people to discuss the church's future. The advance agenda mentioned LGBTQ+ issues; one of Francis’ hand-picked delegates was the Rev. James Martin, a U.S.-based Jesuit and prominent advocate of greater LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Yet in the final summary of the three-week synod, there was no mention of LGBTQ+ people — reflecting the influence of conservatives who opposed Francis’ overtures to that community.

During the synod, the pope met with a small delegation from the Maryland-based New Ways Ministry, which advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ Catholics in the U.S.

According to the group’s executive director, Francis DeBernardo, the pope urged them never to lose hope — a message DeBernardo repeated after being disappointed by the synod’s outcome.

“The Catholic LGBTQ+ community must take Pope Francis’ message to heart,” he said. “The report’s shortcomings are an invitation to speak anew about their joys, their sorrows, and their faith. … Now is not a time to despair.”

Another disappointment came in May 2024, when Francis apologized after Italian media quoted unnamed bishops saying he jokingly used the vulgar term “faggotness” while speaking in Italian during a meeting. He had used the term in reaffirming the Vatican’s ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests.

This week, DeBernardo looked back at Francis’ legacy mostly with appreciation, even while acknowledging disappointments.

“Francis was not only the first pope to use the word 'gay’ when speaking about LGBTQ+ people, he was the first pope to speak lovingly and tenderly to them,” DeBernardo wrote. “His kind words of welcome to this community, traditionally marginalized in the church, rang loudly around the globe.”

It became clear early in Francis’ papacy that he was going to articulate a gentler, more tolerant approach to LGBTQ+ people than any previous pope. The initial high-profile moment came in 2013 -– during the first airborne news conference of his pontificate — with his memorable “Who am I to judge” comment when he was asked about a purportedly gay priest.

Signals had come earlier. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he had favored granting legal protections to same-sex couples. After becoming pope, he went on to minister repeatedly and publicly to the gay and transgender communities, steadily evolving his position. His abiding message: “Everyone, everyone, everyone” — “todos, todos, todos” — is loved by God and should be welcomed in the church.

On some specific LGBTQ+ issues, Francis initially disappointed activists with his decisions, yet later softened or reversed them as part of highlighting his welcoming approach.

Francis was criticized by the Catholic gay community for a 2021 decree from the Vatican’s doctrine office saying the church cannot bless same-sex unions because “God cannot bless sin.” But that stance was effectively repudiated by the 2023 declaration on blessings.

Another reversal came that year in a Vatican statement saying it’s permissible, under certain circumstances, for transgender people to be baptized and serve as godparents

If it did not cause scandal or “disorientation” among other Catholics, a transgender person “may receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful,” it said.

Similarly, the document said trans adults, even if they had gender-transition surgery, could serve as godparents under certain conditions. That reversed an earlier outright ban.

U.S. transgender-rights advocates welcomed Francis’ inclusive tone, noting that some political and religious leaders were targeting trans people with discriminatory laws and policies.

Another issue tackled by Francis pertained to laws in dozens of countries criminalizing homosexual activity.

In 2008, the Vatican declined to sign a U.N. declaration calling for an end to such laws. But in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Francis assailed these laws as unjust and called for their elimination.

“Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said.

Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some regions support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops need to recognize the dignity of everyone.

“These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” he said, suggesting they should apply “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.”

Advocates of greater LGBTQ+ inclusion hailed Francis’ comments.

“His historic statement should send a message to world leaders and millions of Catholics around the world: LGBTQ people deserve to live in a world without violence and condemnation, and more kindness and understanding,” said Ellis, the head of GLAAD.

Praise also came from Martin, who was selected by Francis as a synod delegate.

“Few bishops or bishops’ conferences have condemned the criminalizing laws that the pope rejected today,” he wrote of the AP interview.

But Jamie Manson, a lesbian who headed the U.S.-based abortion-rights group Catholics for Choice, insisted declarations were not enough.

“LGBTQ people need more than nice-sounding words in a newspaper interview in order to be safe in the Catholic Church,” she wrote. “We need doctrinal change.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

FILE - Pope Francis presides at a Mass for the closing of the 16th general assembly of the synod of bishops, in St.Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Oct. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

FILE - Pope Francis pauses during an interview with The Associated Press at The Vatican, Jan. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)

FILE - Transgender women, from left, Claudia Vittoria Salas, Andrea Paola Torres Lopez and Carla Segovia speak as they sit in the Beata Vergine Immacolata church in Torvaianica, Italy, on Nov. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

FILE - GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis arrives at the 36th annual GLAAD Media Awards on March 27, 2025, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - A public blessing ceremony with hundreds of believers takes place in front of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - A public blessing ceremony with hundreds of believers takes place in front of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - Same-sex couples take part in a public blessing ceremony in front of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany, on Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - Pope Francis waves to members of the media as he leaves a synod on family issues at the Vatican, Oct. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)