Taking Francis’ Pastoral Approach: Catholic Priests’ Approval of Pope Francis and Attitudes on Lay Same-Sex Behavior and Homosexual Clergy

Attitudes towards homosexuality in the United States have liberalized rapidly especially over the past 25 years, including across some religious groups. For example, despite the Church teaching condemning same-sex behavior, the vast majority of American Roman Catholics do not think it is wrong for adults to engage in homosexual sex. Yet findings from recent studies show that most Catholic priests in the United States continue to think that homosexual behavior is sinful, and gay men should not be priests despite Pope Francis’ pastoral approach to homosexuality in particular. This article utilizes the 2020–2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests to ask what predicts priests’ attitudes towards homosexuality and gay priests. The central finding is that approval of Pope Francis predicts priests’ attitudes. This may be due to an acceptance of his pastoral approach towards members of the LGBTQ community thus leading to acceptance of homosexuality.