Pope Francis, one of the more progressive pontiff’s in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, died on Monday morning at the age of 88, the Vatican confirmed.
Francis’ willingness to take a more progressive stance on issues from LGBTQ rights to same-sex marriage to immigration make him one of the most progressive and influential popes of the modern era.
Here are memorable moments from Francis’ time where he voiced his opinions on those topics.
Pope Francis waves as he leads a special audience for members of CSI (Italian sport centres) in Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican June 7, 2014.
Max Rossi/Reuters
Francis’ stance on members of the LGBTQ community
In December 2023, Francis formally signed off on allowing Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples, he said in a declaration released by the Vatican’s office.
The declaration stated, “When people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it. For those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection.”
“A blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God. The request for a blessing, thus, expresses and nurtures openness to the transcendence, mercy and the closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live,” the declaration stated.
Before this declaration, Francis had previously reaffirmed the church’s stance on marriage — “an exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to procreation” — but also said he advocated for “pastoral charity.”
Pope Francis delivers his “Urbi et Orbi” message from the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 16, 2017.
Vatican Media via Reuters
“The defense of objective truth is not the only expression of this charity; it also includes kindness, patience, understanding, tenderness and encouragement. Therefore, we cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude,” he said in a letter written in July 2023.
He added that “pastoral prudence must adequately discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more persons, that do not convey a mistaken concept of marriage.”
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press earlier that year, Francis said “being homosexual isn’t a crime.”
In 2013, during his first foreign trip as pope, a journalist asked Francis a question about gay priests, to which he replied: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”
Francis on migrants: ‘The Son of God, in becoming man, also chose to live the drama of immigration’
In a letter shared in February, Francis rebuked the Trump administration over the migrant deportations occurring in the United States in the wake of the president’s second inauguration, calling it a “major crisis.”
“The family of Nazareth in exile, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, emigrants in Egypt and refugees there to escape the wrath of an ungodly king, are the model, the example and the consolation of emigrants and pilgrims of every age and country, of all refugees of every condition who, beset by persecution or necessity, are forced to leave their homeland, beloved family and dear friends to foreign lands,” the letter read.
Pope Francis speaks to journalists during the papal flight direct to Rio de Janeiro, July 22, 2013.
Luca Zennaro/Pool via AP
He said that he “act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and woman, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”
Francis, who was the first pope from Latin America, also donated $500,000 to migrants at the U.S. border back in 2019 to assist in providing food, lodging and basic necessities for those fleeing their home countries through Mexico.
Francis previously stated he was against surrogacy, abortion
In an interview with CBS News‘ Norah O’Donnell in May 2024, Francis stated surrogacy is “not authorized” and advocated for adoption.
“Sometimes surrogacy has become a business, and that is very bad,” Francis told CBS News. “The other hope is adoption. In each case, the situation should be carefully and clearly considered, consulted medically and then morally as well.”
In 2014, the pontiff also shared his views on abortion, calling it part of the world’s “throwaway culture.”
“Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary,'” Francis said in 2014 during his “State of the World” address.
