Pope Leo XIV Promotes Pro-LGBTQ Prelate Who Permitted Pagan Idol in Cathedral
Conservative bishop sacked by Pope Francis protests promotion in open letter to pontiff
Pope Leo’s promotion of a pro-LGBTQ bishop, who permits a Hindu idol in his cathedral and endorses women’s ordination, has left conservative Catholics reeling as they expected the new pontiff to reverse the progressive course set by Pope Francis.
The Holy See Press Office announced on June 18 that Leo XIV had elevated Bishop Shane A. Mackinlay as the new archbishop of Brisbane — the third most populous city in Australia, where Catholics constitute the largest religious demographic.
Mackinlay, who is currently the bishop of Sandhurst, has expressed opinions contrary to Catholic teaching on hot-button issues — views well known to the new pontiff, since Leo XIV was present as Cardinal Robert Prevost at the Synod on Synodality, where Mackinlay played a key role.
In a 2023 radio interview, the new archbishop labeled Australia’s late Cardinal George Pell “complex” and “divisive,” leading Catholics who greatly revered Pell to raise questions about Leo promoting him.
Bishop Permits Hindu Idol in Catholic Cathedral
In April, Australian Catholics launched an online petition against Mackinlay, explaining that “many of us were rightly appalled last week to discover that the diocese of Sandhurst has agreed to the three-month installment of a blatantly pagan sculpture in Sacred Heart Cathedral.”
The artwork titled “Trancendence” is part of “The Wands” series of five exhibits. The sculpture resembles a Hindu deity, which one Catholic media outlet described as Vishnu. Family Life International, Australia, called the exhibit “a sacrilegious artwork inspired by pagan practices.”
“The idol is set out like a tarot card. The five wands tarot card. There are five wands in this thing. The cathedral is one of five, and the idol itself is like the tarot card,” Family Life International wrote in a Facebook post.
“The work, Transcendence, is representative of achieving, being fully enlightened human beings,” the sculptor Ben Wrigley explains in a plaque accompanying the figurine. “Very few achieve this state, and to look upon them is too much for one’s mind, our dense selves; hence they are veiled, ethereal.
“This veil also represents the gossamer thin line between ignorance and understanding,” Wrigley adds.
Wrigley’s explanation reflects the classical Hindu theology of monism, where sin is characterized as “ignorance” (avidya) that the human being is god. Salvation (moksha) is being “enlightened” by recognizing one’s divinity and merging with the Ultimate Principle (Brahman).
The exhibit is being displayed at the Cathedral for three months with Mackinlay’s permission. But that is just the latest in a long string of controversies he’s ignited.
Bishop Defends Same-Sex Blessings, “Queer-Sensitive Behavior”
In 2024, Mackinlay hailed Pope Francis’s declaration Fiducia supplicans, which permits informal same-sex blessings by priests, as a “significant step forward.” LGBTQ issues are of great importance to people in Western cultures, he said.
He also urged the German Synodal Way to approve the text of a paper titled “Dealing with Gender Diversity,” endorsing “queer-sensitive behavior” in Catholic schools, the German Bishops’ news media site katholisch.de revealed in an interview with Mackinlay.
As an international observer at the German Catholic Church assembly in 2023, Mackinlay backed the document that would allow children to omit recording their gender identity in the baptismal register or use the term “diverse” instead. The paper also allows transgender Catholics to change their civil status and first names in the baptismal register.
“There is no contradiction,” the bishop insisted when asked how Catholic gender anthropology could co-exist with gender diversity. “Both are possible because we are dedicated to the core of our Christian mission,” which he explained as “what we say about God’s love for every human being created in His image.”
Bishop Backs Paper on Transgender Bathrooms in Catholic Schools
Asked about the Australian bishops’ paper on gender diversity in Catholic schools, Mackinlay responded: “In our document, we reject the idea that one’s gender is simply chosen. We say that gender and biology are connected. However, we do not take the position that there are therefore only two genders.”
The Australian bishops’ document Created and Loved, which Mackinlay strongly supported, requires Catholic schools “in the case of individual students” to “note the student’s preferred name, identity and use of personal pronouns in school records.”
It also recommends “offering flexibility” with school uniforms and dress codes to cater to the gender diversity of the student body, noting: “There needs to be awareness of the unique needs of the gender variant student, thus providing appropriate bathroom and sleeping arrangements where all students feel safe and supported.”
The paper also calls for providing a “unisex toilet and change room area or creating a bathroom space that is private and not aligned to biological sex” to increase access and safety options for vulnerable students” to “alleviate anxieties.”
Bishop Criticizes Synod Document for Not Including “LGBT” Label
Mackinlay, a member of the oversight committee of the Synod on Synodality’s synthesis paper, slammed the assembly’s final document. He claimed it gave the impression that hardly any LGBT issues had been discussed, “when in fact we talked about it a lot.”
“The report is very imperfect,” Mackinlay noted, since it “softens in many respects” the Synod’s discussions on the full inclusion of queer people in the Church. The bishop lamented that the term “LGBT” was not mentioned explicitly in the Synod’s final document.
“Some spoke in favor of the Church’s teaching during the discussion, while others shared their personal experiences and pastoral approaches. The report does not reflect this lively discussion,” he complained.
Prelate Welcomes Women’s Ordination
During discussions at the Synod on Synodality, Mackinlay stressed that its working document had mentioned the possibility of ordaining women as deacons.
“And if it were to be that the outcome was for ordination to the diaconate to be open to women, I’d certainly welcome that,” he noted. “I’m glad it’s here. I’m glad it’s going to be discussed.
“The question of the ordination of women is clearly something that needs to be addressed universally. The reason that women’s ordination to the diaconate is being mentioned in the instrumentum laboris is because there was such a wide representation asking that question in the two-year consultation process.”
More than 60 of the 277 members staged a protest over issues defending the ordination of women during the Second Assembly of Australia’s Plenary Council in July 2022.
Bishop Joseph Strickland Protests Mackinlay’s Promotion
In an open letter on X, Joseph Strickland, the former bishop of Tyler, Texas, and a fierce critic of Pope Francis’s progressive reforms, blasted Leo for elevating Mackinlay to his new post.
“Appointing a bishop who holds such views to shepherd a major archdiocese is a source of scandal and division. The faithful deserve clarity, not ambiguity; fidelity, not experimentation,” protested Strickland, who was fired by Francis in November 2023.
Mackinlay is the second progressive bishop Leo has appointed. The first was when he approved Fr. Beat Grögli as the new bishop of St. Gallen in Switzerland in May.
Grögli, who was pastor of St. Gallen Cathedral, has called for a change in Church teaching on marriage, sexual morality, and contraception “so that the profound rift between modern-day doctrine and practice should not get even wider.”
At a press conference on the day of his appointment, Grögli, who is a strong supporter of LGBTQ inclusion, backed female deacons. When asked about allowing women to become priests, he said he believed it would happen “someday.”
“Ordination is a big step,” he said. “Before that, there are many small steps that are just as important. For example, the promotion of female pastoral workers.”
Defenders of Leo said the pope was helpless because Grögli’s appointment is governed by a Swiss-Vatican concordat. But critics argued that Leo could have used his plenipotentiary papal authority to veto Grögli’s confirmation.
Dr. Jules Gomes (BA, BD, MTh, PhD) has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.