President-elect Donald Trump has nominated the head of an anti-LGBTQ Catholic group to be the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.
The president-elect announced on December 20 that he has appointed Brian Birch, president and co-founder of CatholicVote, as an ambassador.
“Brian loves the church and loves America,” President Trump said on Truth Social. “He would make us all proud.”
“I am deeply honored and humbled to have been appointed by President Trump as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See,” Birch-On-X said in a statement.
“The role of the ambassador is to represent the U.S. government in its relations with the Holy See,” Birch said. “The Catholic Church is the largest and most important religious institution in the world, and its relationship with the United States is extremely important.”
“I am committed to working with the leaders within the Vatican and with the new administration to promote the dignity and common good of all peoples,” he added. “I look forward to the confirmation process and the opportunity to continue serving my country and church. Glory be to God.”
In his post, Birch also thanked his wife Sarah and their nine children for their support.
I am deeply honored and humbled to have been appointed by President Trump as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Words cannot express my gratitude to everyone who helped me achieve this nomination, especially my wife Sarah…
— Brian Burch (@BrianBurchCV) December 20, 2024
national catholic reporter reported Birch harshly criticized Pope Francis’ decision last year to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.
CatholicVote’s website repeatedly refers to transgender people in quotation marks.
Posted on December 5th regarding United States v. Skrumetti memo The justices heard oral arguments on whether Tennessee can protect children from chemically sterilizing puberty blockers and sexual surgeries that result in mutilation and castration. 2nd CatholicVotes post memo The justices slammed the Justice Department for “challenging Tennessee’s child protection rights to ‘transgender’ mutilation and sterilization.”
Since Pope Francis assumed the papacy in 2013, the Vatican’s stance on LGBTQ and intersex issues has softened.
Francis specifically called laws criminalizing homosexuality “unjust.”
He met at the Vatican on August 14 with two African LGBTQ activists, Clare Byargaba of Chapter 4 Uganda and Ebenezer Piga, director of Rightify Ghana. Sister Janine Gramick, one of the co-founders of New Ways Ministries, is an LGBTQ Catholic based in Maryland. The organization organized a meeting between Francis and a group of transgender and intersex Catholics and LGBTQ allies that was held there. October 12th, Pope’s official residence.
In a 2023 interview with an Argentine newspaper, Francisco said that gender ideology is “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” in the world because it “blurs the differences and values between men and women.” said. A statement released in March by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Faith and approved by Francis condemned gender-affirming surgery and “gender theory.”
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
