Pope Leo Signals Shift Away From Catholic Church's Focus on Sex

Pope Leo's four-nation Africa tour featured firm denunciations by the ​pontiff of despotism and war and also unprecedented attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump that grabbed headlines. 

But a smaller moment, in which the ‌pope said the Catholic Church should prioritise questions of inequality and justice over those of sexual ethics, may prove to be of longer-lasting importance for the Church's 1.4 billion members, said experts.

"The unity or division of the Church should not revolve



around sexual matters," Leo, the first U.S. pope, said in a press conference on his flight home on Thursday, answering a question ​about how the Church considers same-sex marriage. 

"I believe there are much greater and more important issues such as justice, equality... that would all take ​priority before that particular issue," he said. Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of Dignity USA, a group that supports LGBTQ Catholics, called ⁠the pope's remarks "a very significant and overdue reorientation of priorities".