LGBTQ Catholic groups have sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his criticisms of Pope Leo XIV.

Leo on April 13 told reporters while traveling to Algeria that he had “no fear of the Trump administration” after the president described him as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” in response to his opposition to the Iran war. (Trump on the same day posted to Truth Social an image that appeared to show him as Jesus Christ. He removed it on April 13 amid backlash from religious leaders.)

Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, during a Fox News Channel interview on the same day said “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on with the Catholic church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance on April 14 once again discussed Leo during an appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga., saying he should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Miguel Díaz; and Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are among those who have criticized Trump over his comments. The president, for his part, has said he will not apologize to Leo.

“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” said Leo on Thursday at a cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon.

Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic organization. He told the Washington Blade on Thursday that Trump’s comments about Leo “are one more example of the ridiculous hubris of this leader (Trump) whose entire record shows that he is nothing more than a middle-school bully.”

“LGBTQ+ adults were often bullied as children, and they have learned the lesson that bullies act when they feel frightened or threatened,” said DeBernardo. “But secular power does not threaten the Vicar of Christ, and Pope Leo’s response illustrates this truth perfectly.”

DeBernardo added Trump “is obviously frightened that Pope Leo, an American, has more power and influence than the president on the world stage.” 

“Like most Trumpian bullying, this strategy will backfire,” DeBernardo told the Blade. “Moral truth and compassion always overcome ignorant hate. Trump’s actions are not an example of his power, but of his impotence.”

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, an LGBTQ Catholic organization, echoed DeBernardo.

“He [Trump] has demonstrated throughout both presidencies that he doesn’t understand the basic concepts of any faith system that is founded on the dignity of human beings, the importance of common good,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview. “It’s just appalling.”

Duddy-Burke praised Leo and the American cardinals who have publicly criticized Trump.

“The pope’s popularity — given how much more respect Pope Leo has than the man sitting in the White House — is a blow to his ego,” Duddy-Burke told the Blade. “That seems to be a sore sport for him.”

“It’s such an imperialistic world view,” she added.

Leo ‘is the real peacemaker’

The College of Cardinals last May elected Leo to succeed Pope Francis after his death.

Leo, who was born in Chicago, is the first American pope. He was the bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2015-2023.

Francis made him a cardinal in 2023.

Juan Carlos Cruz — a gay Chilean man and clergy sex abuse survivor who Francis appointed to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — has traveled to Ukraine several times with Dominican Sister Lucía Caram since Russia launched its war against the country in 2022. Cruz on Thursday responded to Trump’s criticism of Leo in a text message he sent to the Blade from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

“I am in Ukraine under many attacks,” said Cruz. “Trump is an asshole and has zero right to criticize the Pope who is the real peacemaker.”

A gay couple from D.C. took part in an LGBTQ pilgrimage to the Vatican on Saturday.

Jim Sweeney and his husband, the Rev. Jason Carson Wilson, were two of the more than 1,200 people who participated in the pilgrimage that took place during the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee.

The pilgrims entered St. Peter’s Basilica through its Holy Door, which CNN notes symbolizes forgiveness and reconciliation. (The year-long Jubilee began on Christmas Eve when then-Pope Francis opened the Holy Door.)

The pilgrims on Sept. 5 attended a Mass that took place at Rome’s Church of the Gesù.

DignityUSA in a press release notes the pilgrimage is the first-ever LGBTQ pilgrimage the Vatican has recognized.

“We’re really, really excited,” Sweeney, a member of Dignity Washington, told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview from Rome. “This is a first.”

Wilson, a former journalist and founding executive director of the Bayard Rustin Liberation Institute who is an ordained United Church of Christ minister, echoed his husband.

“To be here in Rome, the cradle of Catholicism, is just an amazing experience,” Wilson told the Blade.

DignityUSA President Meli Barber described the pilgrimage as “truly historic, even miraculous.”

“Many of us could not have imagined that LGBTQ+ Catholics, who have too often been unwelcome in our own church, will have a chance to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, and to pray together there as part of a Holy Year event,” said Barber. “We carry the hope that this is another milepost along the path to full inclusion in our church, the church we have always been part of. We are filled with joy and pride for everyone who will be representing us all.”

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based organization that ministers to LGBTQ Catholics, also took part in the pilgrimage.

“It’s a great and historic honor to be part of this pilgrimage,” said DeBernardo in a press release. “The fact that the Vatican is welcoming this pilgrimage shows how much the church has grown in regard to accepting LGBTQ+ people.”

The pilgrimage took place less than four months after Pope Leo XIV became pope.

The American-born pontiff succeeded Francis, who died on April 21.

The Vatican’s tone on LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under Francis’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality did not change. Leo as pope has reaffirmed Vatican doctrine that says marriage is between a man and a woman, but he will continue to allow priests to bless same-sex couples. The American-born pontiff on Sept. 1 met with the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who founded Outreach, a ministry for LGBTQ Catholics.

“Let me address what many people want to know: Pope Leo’s approach to LGBTQ Catholic ministry,” said Martin in a message posted to Outreach’s website. “The message I received from him, loud and clear, was that he wanted to continue with the same approach that Pope Francis had advanced, which was one of openness and welcome. So, it was very much a hopeful message of continuity.” 

Sweeney said he expects Leo will continue Francis’s legacy of welcoming LGBTQ Catholics into the church. Wilson added he is “cautiously optimistic.”

“I just really am glad to see that we’re in the space, that we’re going to have this pilgrimage, and that LGBT people are going to be allowed to walk through the Holy Door, signifying that we are holy, that we are holy enough to walk through that door,” Wilson told the Blade.

The U.S. Senate on Saturday confirmed the co-founder of an anti-LGBTQ Catholic group to become the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

Senators confirmed former CatholicVote President Brian Burch by a 49-44 vote margin.

President Donald Trump late last year nominated Burch for the ambassadorship.

The Vatican’s tone towards LGBTQ and intersex issues softened under Pope Francis’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity did not change.

Burch sharply criticized the Argentine-born pontiff’s 2023 decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.

Francis died in April.

Pope Leo XIV in May reaffirmed Vatican doctrine that says marriage is between a man and a woman. The American-born pontiff, however, has said priests can continue to bless same-sex couples.

A Dec. 5, 2024, post on Catholic Vote’s website on the U.S. v. Skrmetti case notes the justices heard oral arguments on “whether Tennessee can protect children from puberty blockers, which chemically sterilize, and sexual surgeries that mutilate and castrate.” A second CatholicVotes post notes the justices grilled the Justice Department “on challenge to Tennessee protections for children against ‘transgender’ mutilations and sterilizations.”

The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld the Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming health care for minors.

“I am profoundly grateful to President Trump and the U.S. Senate for this opportunity to serve as the next U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See,” said Burch in a statement CatholicVote released on Saturday. “I have the honor and privilege of serving in this role following the historic selection of the first American pope. In a remarkable coincidence, or what I prefer to attribute to Providence, Pope Leo XIV is from Chicago, which is also my hometown.”

“The relationship between the Holy See and the United States remains one of the most unique in the world, with the global reach and moral witness of the Catholic Church serving as a critical component of U.S. efforts to bring about peace and prosperity,” he added. “As a proud Catholic American, I look forward to representing President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Secretary Rubio in this important diplomatic post. I ask for the prayers of all Americans, especially my fellow Catholics, that I may serve honorably and faithfully in the noble adventure ahead.”