Pope Leo XIV raises pro-LGBT UK archbishop to key Vatican roles

[Stone]

Pope Leo XIV raises pro-LGBT UK archbishop to key Vatican roles
Abp. Bernard Longley, tied to the controversial Soho 'LGBT Masses' and synodal LGBT 'outreach,' has been granted a third Vatican role under the new Pope’s agenda.



Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, in Oxford Oratory on April 18, 2010
Wikimedia Commons

Oct 2, 2025
(LifeSiteNews [Slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks from original included below]) — Pope Leo XIV has promoted a bishop who has supported LGBT-themed liturgies to a consulting position within the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, part of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity under Cardinal Kurt Koch.

Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England, has received three Vatican appointments since June, despite his long record of support for initiatives in the Church that stand in contradiction to Catholic moral teaching.

The Vatican’s Thursday announcement follows Longley’s nomination to the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity in June and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue in July.

Longley, 70, is the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England. He was ordained in 1981 and named auxiliary bishop of Westminster by Pope John Paul II in 2003.

As an auxiliary, Pink News celebrated his role in overseeing the “Soho Masses Pastoral Council” – a group organizing liturgies for active homosexuals. He was tasked with this role by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, then Archbishop of Westminster.

In 2010, he defended the “LGBT Masses” in The Tablet by rejecting any “moral means-testing” before distributing Holy Communion, and accusing critics of making assumptions about the sexual activity of participants.

His comments drew strong rebukes from campaigners, including the late Daphne McLeod of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice – one of the groups that regularly held a prayer vigil outside the “LGBT Mass.”

In spite of her opposition, McLeod maintained a respectful relationship with the “LGBT Mass” participants. In her response to Longley, McLeod said that they were “perfectly honest about their homosexual lifestyles,” and were “emphasising that they are in sexual relationships.”

“No one, apart from the Archbishop, tries to pretend they are living or striving to live chaste lives,” she added.

Appointed Archbishop of Birmingham in 2009, Longley has maintained close engagement with LGBT groups. In May 2023, he thanked the “LGBTQ+ community” for its feedback in the Synod on Synodality.

His 2023 diocesan response to the synod referred to the “loving relationships” of “remarried divorcees, single parents, people living in polygamous marriage, LGBTQ people.”

Longley’s archdiocese subsequently hosted an event for LGBT-identifying Catholics for what the prelate called “a continued conversation to listen further.”

According to the archdiocesan website, Longley requested the establishment of a diocesan LGBT group, which “emerged from the Synodal Process.” Longley’s LGBT group organised an “LGBTQ+ Vigil Welcome Mass” in May of this year. Longley himself commented, “It is so important that everyone should feel welcome in the family of the Church,” and expressed his hope that such events would offer “appropriate accompaniment and encouragement.”

Longley’s appointments comes amid heightened scrutiny of Rome’s LGBT “outreach.” At the start of September, Pope Leo XIV received pro-LGBT activist Father James Martin, S.J., in a private audience – after which Martin claimed that Leo “will be continuing with the same openness that Francis showed to LGBTQ Catholics.”

Martin had issued a ringing endorsement of Leo on the day after his election, and was reported to have backed then-Cardinal Robert Prevost prior to the election.

Although some argued that Martin should not be treated as a trustworthy witness, events have confirmed his interpretation.

Prior to that meeting, Leo received the heretical pro-LGBT nun Sr. Lucia Caram in a secret, unannounced audience.

Less than a week later, the pro-LGBT group “Tent of Jonathan” descended on the Vatican with thousands of attendees, being able to hold a Mass at the Jesuit Gésu church, and processing through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. This event was advertised on the Vatican’s Jubilee Year website.

Leo has himself indicated that the Church’s teaching on sexual morality could change, if attitudes changed first. In recent remarks, he strongly implied that shifting pastoral practice and public opinion must come before any formal doctrinal change.

Martin lauded this, and called for Catholics to pray “for a change in attitude” to this end.

Leo’s other recent appointments include Bishop Michael Pham to the Diocese of San Diego. In July, Pham’s auxiliary, Bishop Ramón Bejarano, offered an “LGBT Pride Mass” in the diocese with his backing. In July, he also appointed Father Thomas Hennen as bishop of Baker, Oregon, who had been involved in drafting pastoral guidelines for persons with same-sex attraction, which made no mention of the necessity of chastity.

As the recently elected vice president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in 2025, Longley is positioned as one of the country’s most senior prelates as Leo reshapes key Vatican bodies.