Pope Leo’s ‘significant’ remarks on sex signal shift for Catholic Church

NewsWorldEuropePope Leo’s ‘significant’ remarks on sex signal shift for Catholic ChurchA less publicised moment from the pontiff’s Africa tour may prove to be of longer-lasting importance for the Church's 1.4 billion membersJoshua McElwee Monday 27 April 2026 15:10 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2965683","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-leo-views-sex-catholic-church-b2965683.html","title":"Pope Leo’s ‘significant’ remarks on sex signal shift for Catholic Church"}}CloseRelated: Pope Leo says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate TrumpOn The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"Europe","regSourceMethod":"NSCs"}}While Pope Leo’s recent four-nation Africa tour garnere...