Editors’ note: This is Part II of a report on Pope Leo XIV’s press conference on the plane from Equatorial Guinea to Rome. Read Part I, concerning the pope’s comments on Iran, here.
Pope Leo, looking relaxed and happy after his visit to four countries in Africa—Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea—answered three questions in addition to the two he addressed on Iran. The questions concerned his decision to visit authoritarian states, migration and the blessing of same-sex couples.
The Paris Match’s correspondent, Arthur Herlin, asked whether Leo’s meeting with the authoritarian presidents of Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea gave them a kind of moral legitimacy. He suggested it could be called “pope washing.”
It was known that some clergy and human rights activists had raised the same question, including with the Vatican. Pope John Paul II faced similar questions when he visited President Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
Pope Leo thanked the journalist for the question, seeing it as an opportunity to provide clarity on the matter. He acknowledged the problem, saying: “Certainly, the presence of a pope with any head of state can be interpreted in different ways. It can be interpreted and has been interpreted by some as, ‘Ah! The pope or the church is saying it’s OK that they live like that.’” But, he added, “others may say things differently.”
It was clear that Leo was aware that this was an issue even before the journalist raised it because in his opening remarks to the press corps, before taking the questions, he said, “When I make a journey…as bishop of Rome, and above all an apostolic pastoral journey, to find, to accompany and to know the people of God, many times the interest is rather political: ‘What will the pope say on one theme or another, why does he not judge the government, or the opposite?’” He admitted, “There are certainly many things to say.”
The pope said that while he does speak on matters of justice during foreign visits, the primary mission is to “announce the Gospel, to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ, which is then a way of coming close to people in their joys, in the depth of their faith, but also in their suffering.”
Leo emphasized, “It’s important to speak also with heads of state, to encourage perhaps a change of mentality or a greater openness to think for the good of the people, or the possibility to look at questions such as the distribution of the goods of a country.” He revealed that in his discussions with heads of state on this trip that “we did a little of everything.”
He recalled that the Holy See “maintains diplomatic relationships” with 184 countries, and “sometimes we have diplomatic relationships with countries that have authoritarian leaders.” He said this “gives us the opportunity to speak with them on a diplomatic level, on a formal level. We don’t always make great proclamations, criticizing, judging or condemning, but there’s an awful lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to promote justice, to promote humanitarian causes, at times to look for situations where there may be political prisoners and finding ways for them to be freed.”
He concluded by emphasizing that by maintaining its neutrality and diplomatic relations with many countries, the Holy See is “actually trying to find a way to apply the Gospel to concrete situations so that the lives of people can be improved. The aim is to try to help the people of any given country.”
The treatment of migrants
The question about migration was raised by Eva Fernandez of Cope Radio in Spain. She recalled that Leo will visit Spain and the Canary Islands in June and said migration is an issue that “generates great debate and polarization, and even among Catholics there is no clear position.” She asked what the pope would say to Spaniards and, in particular, Catholics about migration.
Pope Leo is well-versed on this migration question. He was involved in writing a letter that Pope Francis sent to the U.S. bishops in which the Argentine pope condemned the Trump policy of mass deportations.
Not surprisingly, then, his answer went broader than the scope of her question. “Clearly, the topic of migration is very complex, and it affects many countries, not only Spain, not only Europe, but also the United States. It is a global phenomenon,” he said.
He began his response with an incisive question: “What does the Global North do to support the Global South, or those countries where young people today find no future and therefore dream of going North?”
“Often the North has no answers on how to offer them opportunities,” he said.
Pope Leo repeated what he had said several times before: “I personally believe a state has a right to regulate its borders. I am not saying that everyone must be allowed to enter without order, sometimes creating more unjust situations where they arrive than those that they had left.”
At the same time, he said, “I ask: What do we do in richer countries to change the situation in poorer countries? And why can we not try, both through state aid and through the investments of large, rich, multinational companies, to change the situations in countries like those that we visited on this trip?”
As he mentioned on more than one occasion on this 11-day trip, Leo said that “Africa, for many people, is a place where one can go to take minerals, to take its riches, to enrich others in other countries.” Like Pope Francis, he suggested that perhaps “at the global level, we need to work to promote greater justice and equality and development so that there not be the need to emigrate…”
He concluded with a strong remark in light of what he knows happens in the United States and in parts of Europe. “In any case, [migrants] are human beings, and we must treat human beings humanely and not treat them worse than animals, as often happens,” he said.
Pope Leo is sure to return to this subject again on July 4 when he visits the island of Lampedusa, a place that has become a symbol of the migration crisis and where Pope Francis made his first foreign visit and denounced “the globalization of indifference.”
The blessing of same-sex couples
Verena Shalter, a journalist with a German broadcaster, asked the pope how he assessed the decision of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the archbishop of Munich, to allow his priests to formalize the blessing of same-sex couples in his diocese.
The cardinal’s decision, partly a follow-up to positions taken in the German Synodal Way, is widely seen as highly controversial, given the strong opposition to such blessings expressed by bishops in Africa and the passionate debate that took place at the Synod on Synodality at which Leo participated when he was a cardinal.
He began his answer, very much in line with Pope Francis, by stating, “First of all, I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the church should not revolve around sexual matters.”
He said, “We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.”
On this particular question, he said, “The Holy See has already spoken to the German bishops.” Indeed, “The Holy See has made it clear that we do not agree with the formalized blessing of couples, in this case homosexual couples, as you asked, or couples in irregular situations, beyond what was specifically, if you will, allowed for by Pope Francis in saying all people receive blessings.”
Pope Leo said, “When a priest gives a blessing at the end of Mass, when the pope gives a blessing at the end of a large celebration like such we had today, these are blessings of all people.”
He added, “[Pope] Francis’ infamous, famous, well-known expression of ‘Tutti, tutti, tutti’ is an expression of the church’s belief that all are welcome, all are invited, all are invited to follow Jesus, and all are invited to look for conversion in their lives.”
Pope Leo, who has put peace and unity as central priorities in his papacy, concluded: “To go beyond that today, I think that the topic can cause more disunity than unity, and that we should look for ways to build our unity upon Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ teaches. So that’s how I would respond to that question.”
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