Following the election of Robert Prevost as the first pope from the United States in the history of the Catholic Church, some members of the LGBTQ+ community have high hopes that Pope Leo XIV will follow a progressive path.

Some people in the LGBTQ+ community appreciate Pope Francis’s kindness toward them, and they still seek full acceptance into the Roman Catholic Church, with the hope that the new pope will pick up where Pope Francis left off. 

Spiritus Christi in Rochester is an independent Catholic church that separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1998 so women could be called as priests, all would be welcome to communion and marriages between gay couples would be performed there. They were all ideas Pope Francis warmed to, a first ever for a pope.

“Pope Francis was not a perfect ally for the LGBTQIA+ community, but he was an ally. He did more for us than all of his predecessors combined accomplished in 2,000 years. He changed the game. He was the first pope to ever use the word 'gay' publicly,” said Benedictine Brother Peter Veitch during one of his services.

He presides over some services at Spiritus Christi. He says he is proudly openly gay. He appreciates that Pope Francis moved the ball forward for some acceptance of the LGBTQ community in the Catholic Church.

“The most famous five words that Francis said were his statement, 'Who am I to judge?' when being questioned about an openly gay priest,” Veitch said.

“Francis was the heart and soul of the compassion for the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church,” said Rev. Myra Brown, the pastor at Spiritus Christi Church. “He sent some clear messages around trying to have the global church just back away from being so judgmental about groups of people and trying to send the message that church should be a place for everybody, right? That our job is to gather them and not to scatter them away.”

While steps toward acceptance have been made thanks to Pope Francis, many feel there’s a long road ahead, one that Spiritus Christi has already taken.

“LGBTQ folks live here in our faith community alongside everybody else," Veitch said. "We don't have gay marriage. We have marriage. Marriage is for everybody."

It’s the way they hope the Roman Catholic Church will eventually evolve into, maybe with the next pope.

“I think with the Roman Catholic Church, my hope is that they will stop pulling up the rear and be headlights around this new way, this progressive way, that God is calling the church forthright to be a place where everybody is welcome, and everybody belongs,” said Brown.