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Serge Quevillon made it a point Monday to visit Montreal’s Mary Queen of the World Cathedral to pay respect to Pope Francis.
Speaking outside the cathedral, he said he vividly remembers a question the pope was asked in June 2013.
“He was asked, ‘What do you think about homosexuality?’ And he gave the nicest, most incredible comment: Who am I to judge?” Quevillon told The Canadian Press.
“That should be a lesson for each and every one of us.”
Tjitske Koenes, originally from Holland, described the pope as a gentleman who wanted to guide the Catholic Church with more progressive ideas, including acceptance of women and LGBTQ+ people.
“A lot of popes before, they didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” said Koenes.
“It’s going to be a very, very hard job to find another pope like this.”
Pope Francis died Monday at the Vatican at age 88. The Vatican said he had a stroke.
Some Canadian church leaders say they hope his replacement does more to advance the church’s inclusion of LGBTQ+ people.
Early in his papacy, the pope, unlike his predecessors, showed more tolerance and acceptance for LGBTQ+ people, delivering in 2013 the landmark line “Who am I to judge?” when asked about a gay priest.
Speaking to The Associated Press in 2023, he said that “being homosexual is not a crime” and later approved blessings for same-sex couples provided the blessing didn’t resemble marriage vows.
“Francis was, in my mind, a breath of fresh air as popes go,” said Rev. Deana Dudley from Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto.
“I was very, very pleased to see the way that he wanted to open up the doors of the Roman Catholic Church to more people, and particularly his inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ folks.”
Dudley, whose church was founded in 1973 to serve people from all walks of life, said many of her congregation, which includes lapsed Catholics, were thrilled by the pope’s remarks in 2013.
Rev. Brent Hawkes, founder of Toronto-based Rainbow Faith and Freedom, said many people of faith in the LGBTQ+ community are driven away from the church by its opposition to inclusion and human rights.
Hawkes said he never thought he would see the day when the head of the Catholic Church would stand with the LGBTQ+ community.
“That was a massive change that opened the door for progressive bishops and progressive cardinals,” he said, adding that it also sent a message to other faiths to be more accepting.
“He wasn’t as progressive as we would have wanted or hoped for, (but) I’m an incrementalist. You know Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court justice, said all lasting change is incremental.”
While the Catholic Church’s doctrine calls homosexuality an “objective disorder,” Dudley said Francis was a humble person who seemed willing to open his heart and his mind.
In some instances, the pope broke Easter tradition by choosing to wash the feet of women, Muslims and a transgender sex worker. At the Last Supper, Jesus did the same with his disciples.
Doing so showed that he wanted to be a friend to all people, Dudley said, “which I believe is what Jesus would do.”
“I would love to have seen him go farther, and I hope that the Roman Catholic Church will not take too many steps backwards,” she added.
Cardinals are to meet in the coming weeks to name a successor to Francis. Hawkes said he hopes the new pontiff will also hold progressive values and build on Francis’s legacy.
“Keep the doors open to everyone,” said Dudley.
— With files from Morgan Lowrie in Montreal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2025.
Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press
