New Report: Catholic Church in England & Wales Improves LGBTQ+ Welcome Significantly

A new study from an ecumenical academic coalition revealed stunning progress over the past five years in LGBTQ+ affirmation in the Catholic Church in England and Wales. 

Conducted by the European Forum of LGBTI Christian Groups, The Rainbow Index of Churches in Europe (RICE) 2025 is an academic research study that scores and ranks churches across Europe on how they include and support LGBTQ+ people, reports The Tablet, a London-based Catholic periodical.

This second edition of the Rainbow Index was published October 7. In the first edition, published in 2020, the Catholic Church in England and Wales scored 20%. In five years, that country’s Church has jumped to 53%, outpacing the Church of England (the Anglican established church) whose 2025 score was 40%.

Of all the Catholic national groupings represented in the European Forum, Germany’s Catholic Church scored the highest with a ranking of 72%. Following behind Germany, the Catholic Church in Great Britain tied with the Belgian Catholic Church in second place, each with a ranking of 53%. Malta followed close behind in third place with a 51% score. 

The overall ranking is based on 52 indicators across four categories: institutional equality and non-discrimination; church practices;language, speech and symbols; and public policy. (Each nation’s scores in these individual categories can be found by clicking on the links at the end of the post.)

Michael Brinkschroder, a member of the Roman Catholic Working Group of the European Forum, commented on the strong improvement in the score of the England and Wales church:

“It should be a case study. Improvements came about both because of the vast unity of the bishops’ conference and the good pastoral infrastructure. Sometimes the bishops are supportive, sometimes they are the problem, but the Church in England and Wales shows that if there’s no grassroots, nothing happens.”

Martin Pendergast

LGBT+ Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council, which represents the official outreach of the London diocese headed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, is a British member of the European Forum. Martin Pendergast, the Council’s secretary, said credited grassroots organizing and pastoral structures for the region’s meteoric rise in affirmation. While the ranking is cause for celebration Pendergast also emphasized the need for more progress:

“This shows the impact that the officially recognised, seven diocesan LGBT+ Catholic affirming ministries have had in England & Wales. The Church in England & Wales now has to implement the various calls made during the recent Synodal consultations. It needs to reframe its 1979 LGBT+ pastoral guidance by adopting more welcoming and inclusive language and press the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to do likewise, not least in opening up the celebration of same-gender blessings and liturgies.”

Poland and Slovakia scored the lowest in the Catholic group, though Poland made progress from a 2.8% score to a 5.8% between studies. Slovakia, however, decreased its score. 

The scores for each Catholic Church region included in the 2025 Index are as follows:

• Roman Catholic Church in Germany — 72%
• Roman Catholic Church in Belgium — 53%
• Roman Catholic Church in England & Wales — 53%
• Roman Catholic Church in Malta — 51%
• Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland — 40%
• Roman Catholic Church in Ireland — 37%
• Roman Catholic Church in Italy — 36%
• Roman Catholic Church in France — 35%
• Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands — 24%
• Roman Catholic Church in Hungary — 17%
• Roman Catholic Church in Portugal — 17%
• Roman Catholic Church in Slovenia — 17%
• Roman Catholic Church in Spain — 17%
• Roman Catholic Church in Sweden — 15%
• Roman Catholic Church in Poland — 5.8%
• Roman Catholic Church in Slovakia — 4.8%

—Jeromiah Taylor, New Ways Ministry, October 15, 2025