National Public Radio was in Rome for the just-concluded papal conclave, which elected American Robert Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo XIV. Before the white smoke appeared, All Things Considered host Scott Detrow interviewed LGBTQ-friendly Fr. James Martin for the occasion, (Detrow even led his interview with it), the online transcript bearing the title "Will the next pope continue Francis' legacy with LGBTQ Catholics?"
Check out your tax dollars at work pushing transgender politics into the conclave, Detrow hoping Catholics break with their doctrine:
DETROW: On the eve of the papal conclave, one of the big questions hanging in the air is whether the church will continue the path that Pope Francis set in softening its harsh positions on LGBTQ Catholics. Reverend James Martin has spent much of his career ministering to and advocating for this community. It's a ministry Pope Francis personally encouraged....We met Father Martin at the Jesuit global headquarters, where he is staying for the conclave….
Detrow scoured the surroundings for gay Catholics afraid of the post-Francis future:
DETROW: We were interviewing people the other day at St. Mary Major, where, of course, Pope Francis' tomb is, and we talked to one person who I thought, like, really embodies this challenge the church faces. She's somebody who grew up in the church, playing the organ in the church. You could hear her talking about that that was a fond memory. But she said she's LGBTQ and she felt increasingly pushed out and pushed out and pushed out. And she said, I don't consider myself Catholic anymore because I felt alienated by this church. And I feel like that story plays out in so many places right now, and it's just been this incredible challenge for the church. And I know it's one that you've thought a lot about.
MARTIN: Yeah, there are a lot of people that feel that way. By the same token, there are a lot of people that feel, under Francis, they've had this experience of welcome. I would say Francis probably did more for LGBTQ people - well, not probably - than all of his predecessors combined, right?....
His only complaint was that Francis was mostly talk but little action on that front. Martin defended Francis’s approach and added Francis's outreach to the transgender movement:
MARTIN: ….in the last few years of his life, he used to meet regularly with transgender people. It was kind of under the radar, but that's a big deal. I mean - and at his entombment, you could say, at St. Mary Major, there was a representative from the transgender community officially there, you know, at the invitation of the Vatican....
Detrow may have endangered his politically correct standing when he showed concern that gay couples weren’t being blessed in the more socially conservative churches of Africa. Fr. Martin was on the same page as his liberal interviewee on the vital importance of pushing alphabet ideology at the conclave:
DETROW: ….when you look at the parts of the world where the church is most rapidly growing, there's real resistance to things like that from parishioners, from leaders, including from some cardinals who could be in contention to be the next pope. How do you think the church moves forward, keeping those views in mind, but also being welcoming, not being -- frankly, some people would say at times -- hateful toward people who are gay?
MARTIN: ….we have to stand up for people who are being marginalized. I always say there were two trends in the church in the last 12 years for LGBTQ people….So it is a frustration that there are many places where cardinals and bishops are pretty homophobic and pretty, I would say, sometimes mean to LGBTQ people….
