Catholic Church more welcoming of gay people under Pope Francis, says former taoiseach Leo Varadkar

Pope Francis shakes hands with then taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Dublin Airport as he departs after his two day visit in 2018. File Picture: Maxwells

The papacy of Pope Francis made it more comfortable for former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to attend Mass as a gay man, he has told the Irish Examiner.

Mr Varadkar said that he had felt that the Catholic Church had become more welcoming of gay people generally during Pope Francis's reign.

In 2023, Pope Francis had declared that laws criminalising homosexuality were “unjust” and that “being homosexual is not a crime”, and later that year signed a document that said that under certain circumstances trans people can be baptised as Catholics and serve as godparents.

"For me, who was raised Catholic but doesn't go to Mass much, I certainly felt more comfortable doing so — and that was largely down to his attitude to LGBTQ people," said the former taoiseach. 

He added that his local church now holds an annual Mass for the LGBT+ community, adding that he was not sure this would happen had it not been for Pope Francis.

Mr Varadkar was taoiseach and had a meeting with the Pope when he came to Ireland in 2018.

I have very positive memories of the visit 

"It was arranged very late in the day, because he was over for the World Meeting of Families and we weren't sure how big the State element would be," Mr Varadkar said. 

"But we were very keen he leave Dublin and he did go to Knock," he said, praising the protocol department in the Department of Taoiseach for handling the event.

Mr Varadkar added that he believed the visit's signature event, a Mass in the Phoenix Park "could have gone better" in terms of overall attendance, but the weather on the day and fears around long queues didn't help.

The 2018 visit included the Pope making the most comprehensive acknowledgement of abuses in Ireland, which Leo Varadkar had raised in his meeting. File Picture: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

Mr Varadkar said he and the pontiff had a "great meeting" during the visit, and that he had appreciated that there was no issue that his partner Matt attended the meeting. 

Mr Varadkar also revealed that Pope Francis would enquire about his wellbeing through a mutual friend and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

I'd a great meeting him. He was extremely down to Earth. I really liked him

"I felt it was really warm. He would ask after me. He met Matt too, which was really nice because I'm not sure how many same-sex heads of government he would have encountered.

"He seemed to think pastoral care came before doctrine, to come from that very South American view of Catholicism."

LGBT+ issues

Mr Varadkar said that, while Pope Francis perhaps "could have gone further" on LGBT+ issues, he went further than any of his predecessors.

The 2018 visit included the Pope making the most comprehensive acknowledgement of abuses in Ireland, which Mr Varadkar had raised in his meeting. 

The meeting was in the same year as the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution had been passed in a landslide, and Mr Varadkar said he had been keen to see relations with the Catholic Church improved.

He knew that I had a responsibility on behalf of survivors of abuse to raise it and he handled it well, but I had been keen to improve relations with the Church and state and discussed that

"I know some victims will feel differently about how he spoke in terms of the apology against the actions he took."

Mr Varadkar said Pope Francis had "created the space for a more respectful relationship between the Church and the state".

"It's now more balanced."