Pope to meet LGBTQ+ and women’s equality group

We Are Church International representatives – a group that advocates for pro-LGBTQ+ and female priests – will meet with Pope Leo XIV. 

The Vatican shared that representatives from the group will “meet with Pope Leo XIV and walk through the Holy Gate” as part of the Holy Year’s celebrations. 

We Are Church International (WAC) confirmed to PinkNews that they will be participating in the Jubilee of Synodal Teams, held from 24 – 26 October 2025, as “another participating organisation”. 

WAC was founded in Rome in 1996 and is a global coalition of national church reform groups. 

Colm Holmes, chair of the group said: “We are this year celebrating 30 years since our foundation. 

“We are committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed therefrom.” 

Goals set by the group include equality for women, equality for laity, equality for LGBTQ+ people and equality for married people. 

WAC’s representatives will have the chance to speak with the Pope when they arrive in October. 

‘A sign for the Church as a whole’

WAC co-founder Christian Weisner told Vatican Radio: “We were pleased that this meeting of synodal teams and bodies of the World Synod will also take place in the Vatican as part of the Holy Year, and that the invitation was open. 

“Our patient work over 30 years, during which we have often been present in Rome at bishops’ synods, council commemorations, papal elections, and other events, may have contributed to this. 

 “I also see the passage through the Holy Door as a sign for the Church as a whole: to leave mistakes behind and to set out again and again in Christian hope.”

The group’s attendance is a positive sign for the LGBTQ+ community as the Pope has openly aired scepticism of LGBTQ+ reforms, declaring that family is “founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman”. He has, however, confirmed that blessings of same-sex marriages will remain.

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