Student Cautions Pope Francis Against Using Anti-LGBTQ+ Language in Virtual Meeting

Pope Francis meeting with students from the Asia-Pacific region during a virtual conversation

A Filipino student has cautioned Pope Francis against using derogatory language about LGBTQ+ people, coming after reports the pope twice used an anti-gay slur.

Last week, Pope Francis joined twelve students from the Asia-Pacific region for a Zoom conversation, part of the Building Bridges Initiative from Loyola University Chicago and several Vatican dicasteries. At one point during the conversation, Catholic News Service (via OSV) reported:

“Jack ‘JLove’ Lorenz Acebedo Rivera from [Ateneo de Manila University] in the Philippines, who had told the Loyola moderators he wanted to wear a rainbow sash to represent the LGBTQ+ community, but didn’t want it to seem too ‘political.’

He spoke about discrimination against Muslims and women, and how he feels like an outcast who is ‘bullied due to my bisexuality, my gayness, my identity and being a son of a single parent’ who wants, but cannot get, a divorce.

“‘Please allow divorce in the Philippines and stop using offensive language against the LGBTQIA+ community. This leads to immense pain,’ Acebedo told the pope, appealing to him and the Catholic Church to help fight discrimination against all people.”

In response, Pope Francis clearly stated: “‘No’ to discrimination, no. ‘Yes’ to proximity, closeness. Proximity is what leads to love.” He continued:

“‘Jack spoke about such intense, intense discrimination, discriminatory policies that are very common among people,’ such as the example of his mother and discriminating against people ‘according to identity,’ he said. From this emerges discrimination against women, which is ‘a very, very dangerous thing’ and is resolved ‘with proximity. We are all neighbors.’

“The pope told the students that the capacity to love is what makes people grow. ‘Proximity makes us neighbors with no discrimination and with a lot of love.’

“The only discrimination they should practice, the pope said, is to be able ‘to discriminate between true love and false love; always choose true love.'”

The Building Bridges Initiative focuses on creating “a synodal experience for students attending partner universities in different regions around the world,” after which some student representatives have a virtual conversation with Pope Francis. This session included not only a student from the Philippines, but Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Taiwan. Other topics discussed included making Masses more welcoming, lowering barriers to access the sacraments, confronting religious persecution, and promoting youth mental health.

About mental health, Pope Francis encouraged students to  focus on belonging, which “saves us from vulnerability” because “one of the things that affects mental health the most is discrimination.”

The pope’s reply to a conservative Australian student was also  notable. The student railed against “secular ideologies” and Catholic schools where teachers “preach their own agendas of abortion, contraception and gender theory.” The pope instead encouraged the student to avoid isolation and loneliness by encountering others, appealing for better faith formation that “can help us to be authentic Christians.”

Pope Francis’ uses of the anti-gay slur, which made global headlines each time, has been rightly condemned by LGBTQ+ advocates and many other Catholics, even some who are more conservative. However, few people—if any—have directly challenged the pope during a public meeting with him over the harm done. Jack Lorenz Acebedo Rivera’s appeal to Francis, marked both by compassion and truth, is to be commended, and so, too, is the pope’s loving response. Truly, a bridge was built during this conversation.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, June 24, 2024

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