The founder of an LGBTQ activist publication that seeks to “celebrate and elevate” the “experiences of LGBTQ Catholics within the life of the Church” argues that more “gay” men should be ordained to the Catholic priesthood.
An essay published Wednesday at Outreach finds Rev. James Martin, S.J. responding to a study, conducted in 2024 by the University of Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church life and published last fall, with the title, “Do You Know Them to Be Worthy?”
With the global clergy sexual abuse scandal serving as the backdrop, the study’s authors, Rev. Thomas V. Berg, Ph.D. and Timothy G. Lock, Ph.D., ultimately proposed recommendations for conducting assessments of candidates for admission to seminaries, and for supporting “chastity and celibacy formation.”
Among their conclusions is that, despite “the complexity and fraught nature of the issue,” they agree with the “emerging consensus” that seminarians with stable same-sex attraction [SSA] “should not be accepted” into seminaries.
“The present authors cannot help but wonder whether there is, in fact, broader agreement … that a seminarian’s stable SSA will often constitute a strong reason, at minimum, to pause formation,” Berg and Lock wrote. “Most of us, even as we know brother priests with SSA, often also know just how painful and problematic their road in life has been, attempting to wed that attraction with a celibate lifestyle.”
That determination follows along with a 2005 “instruction” by the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education – approved by Pope Benedict XVI – stating that the Church, “cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’”
“Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women,” the instruction continues. “One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies.”
In their report, Berg and Lock made the distinction, then, between two terms: “deep-seated same-sex attraction” and “transitory same-sex attraction.”
But Martin took issue with that distinction.
“It is one thing to overcome temptation or lust,” he wrote. “It is another to overcome one’s overall sexuality.”
The editor-at-large at the Jesuit magazine America, Martin defended his position noting that the McGrath Institute study found that 22% of bishops surveyed “agree” or “strongly agree” that they are “comfortable ordaining a man who experiences deep-seated same-sex attraction, provided he is firmly committed to celibacy.”
Far more important to him, however, is what he asserts Pope Francis told him:
During a meeting with Pope Francis in 2024, I spoke with him about this topic and he allowed me to share his response, which is that he knew many “good, holy and celibate” seminarians and priests who were gay. Given the sensitivity of the topic, I asked Francis twice if I could share that publicly. “Why not?” he said. “I’ve said it before. And it’s what I believe.”
I was honored to meet with Pope Francis for an hour-long conversation today at Casa Santa Marta. With his permission to share this, the Holy Father said he has known many good, holy and celibate seminarians and priests with homosexual tendencies. Once again, he confirmed my… pic.twitter.com/BGsfYE1yNN
“The most compelling argument for openness to ordaining gay men to the priesthood is the presence of many holy and healthy gay and celibate priests,” Martin wrote at Outreach.
Nevertheless, also in 2024, Pope Francis, upon meeting with the Italian Episcopal Conference reportedly responded to a question about the admission of openly declared homosexual men to the seminary.
EWTN reported Francis’ response and the statement by the Holy See Press spokesman later apologizing for the Holy Father’s use of a “slur” in his reply:
Telling the bishops that gay men should not be admitted to priestly formation, the pope argued “there is too much ‘frociaggine’ in seminaries,” a slur translated as “faggotry” or “faggotness.”
The pope, the spokesman said, “never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologizes to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others.”
But Martin does not just defend homosexuality – he wants it actively celebrated as part of the natural order of life, and, so, disagrees with Church teaching.
The prominent Jesuit, Fr James Martin, has called on the Catholic Church to change its rules on seminary admission, arguing that celibate ‘gay’ men should be ordained as priests.
— The Catholic Herald (@CatholicHerald) July 27, 2026
Interestingly, in 2018, at America magazine, Martin penned “The Witch Hunt for Gay Priests,” during which he admitted regarding the sexual abuse scandal in the Church:
It is important to say that the majority (but not all) of the clerical abuse crimes were cases of priests preying on male adolescents and boys. Also, the majority (but not all) of the sexual harassment cases were men harassing other men or young men. Prescinding from the complex psychological questions of how much a person’s sexuality has to do with abuse, how much differentials in power do and how much proximity does, we should state clearly: Many priests abusers had a homosexual orientation. That is undeniable.
Still, Martin’s efforts to push his agenda is clear.
As Vatican journalist Diane Montagna reported in May, Martin was “the Mastermind” behind a recently released Vatican synod report that urged reconsideration of the Church’s teachings on homosexuality. The report featured testimonies of two men in same-sex “marriages” claiming to have been injured by the Church’s longstanding teaching that homosexuality is “contrary to the natural law.”
JUST IN: On Tuesday, the Vatican published the Final Report of the Synod on Synodality’s study group on “controversial doctrinal, pastoral & ethical questions,” prominently featuring two anonymous testimonies from openly homosexual men in “same-sex marriages.”
Martin had ties to both men, Montagna observed, including one who was featured in a New York Times photo with his “husband,” as Martin himself performed a blessing of the two the day after Pope Francis’ Fiducia Supplicans was released.
Martin was clearly pleased with the synod report.
News: By including (and publishing) the testimonies of two LGBTQ Catholics in a Synod final report, the church has taken a significant step forward. https://t.co/aF5Ig4RVhL
“By including (and publishing) the testimonies of two LGBTQ Catholics in a Synod final report, the church has taken a significant step forward,” he posted to social media.
Jesus is coming soon!😇
Not soon enough.
He has more work for us to do.
Watch out for Jesuits!