FORMER TAOISEACH LEO Varadkar has extended his condolences to Catholics on the death of Pope Francis and commended his outreach to the LGBTQ+ community. 

Varadkar, Ireland’s first openly gay Taoiseach, was in the role when Pope Francis visited Ireland in 2018. 

His visit to Ireland that year was the first of a reigning pope in almost 40 years. 

Speaking this morning on RTÉ Radio 1, Varadkar, who stood down as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael last year, spoke of the impact Pope Francis has had on the LGBTQ+ community around the globe.

Varadkar said he believes Pope Francis brought a twofold change to the Catholic church.

Firstly, that he prioritised people over doctrine and secondly, that he welcomed people back to the church who had previously felt unaccepted.

“For a lot of people, and certainly for me as somebody who was raised Catholic, who did my communion and confirmation, but felt remote from the church for a long time, I think the way he reached out to groups like ours, like LGBT people, did matter and certainly made me feel more comfortable going to church services,” Varadkar said.

Varadkar added that it was significant that Pope Francis spoke out about the criminalisation of gay and lesbian people. 

Pope Francis and Varadkar in Dublin Castle, 2018. Alamy Alamy

“In Ireland, it’s easy to forget that while there are thirty countries where gay people can get married, there is seventy where it is still a crime. And for the Pope to speak out against that in places like Africa is actually of real significance,” Varadkar said.

He added: “And bear in mind, at the moment, in politics around the world, there are people who claim that God is on their side, while they try to reduce the rights of LGBT people, while they try to treat migrants badly, while they try to deny climate action.

“And having a pope, the head of the largest Christian church, saying that refugees should be sheltered, saying that our planet was sick and that we need to act to save it, saying that LGBT people should not be criminalised, that did matter. And I do hope his successor is of a similar mind.” 

Early into his papacy, Francis said: “If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?”

Later, Pope Francis called for the Church to apologise for the harm it has caused to the LGBTQ+ community, saying: “We Christians have to apologise for so many things, not just for this [treatment of gay people], but we must ask for forgiveness, not just apologise.”

And in recent years, Francis formally allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.

He also recently affirmed that transgender people can be baptised into the Church and act as Godparents.

Includes reporting from Diarmuid Pepper.