While the rest of the liberal media were trying to convince the American public that Pope Leo XIV was one of theirs, the purported Catholics of ABC’s The View were fearful that he would abide by church doctrine. They were upset by the idea that he would continue the church’s understanding that marriage was between a man and woman, while an anti-Catholic voice tried to smear him with accusations she admitted were unsupported.
Despite proclaiming herself to be “a devout Catholic,” co-host Sunny Hostin hoped that Pope Leo “doesn't roll back the progress” Pope Francis supposedly made for “the LGBTQ+ community.
“Look, I always think it's exciting, to watch the Conclave and look for the black smoke and the white smoke and just the ceremony of it. And, you know, during these very trying times in our country, we certainly need spiritual leadership, because of some of the things that we're experiencing,” Hostin proclaimed before getting to her fears.
Hostin bizarrely took issue with Leo previously stating the fact “the popular culture” often promoted a kind of lifestyle antithetical to church teachings:
I'm a little concerned about this choice for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2012, he gave an address to bishops, and he lamented, ‘the popular culture fostered and a sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,’ and that’s a quote. And then he cited the ‘homosexual lifestyle and families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.’
Sorry you bought into the popular culture, Sunny.
Admitting that she was – as all Catholics were – “sinful,” Ana Navarro tried to give Leo the benefit of the doubt since what Hostin was citing was from 13 years ago. She argued that American politicians had changed their minds on gay marriage in that time:
In 2012, but what I'm saying to you in 2012 there were even a lot of American politicians who today are pro-gay marriage and pro-equal rights who were not. So maybe, you know, with the weight of the papacy and the idea that he just said when he went out on the balcony that the church loves everyone and was inclusive in his first message.
“So, until we see otherwise, I think we need to pray and hope that he follows in Francis' footsteps in being inclusive…” Navarro declared.
Sara Haines, a Presbyterian who had voiced some pretty staunch anti-Catholic hate on the show (calling it “extremist” and “cult-like”), decided to smear Leo by trying to tie him the church’s child sex abuse cases with allegations she wasn’t even sure about:
The conclave looked past allegations that he had – This pope had mishandled or failed to act on sexual abuse cases involving priests in both Peru and the United States. And the probably the dirtiest stain on the Catholic Church would be the abuse of young children. So, to know that that could have been looked past is difficult to reconcile for me.
Well Sara, since he’s not the leader of your religion, you don’t have to reconcile anything because it doesn’t involve you.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
May 9, 2025
11:02:45 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: Who are the Catholics here anyway?
SARA HAINES: Two. [Pointing at Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro]
BEHAR: You two. I'm a lapsed Catholic, but I’m a Catholic.
ANA NAVARRO: I'm a sinful one.
BEHAR: You’re a sinful Catholic.
HAINES: We may want to start with Sunny then.
[Laughter]
SUNNY HOSTIN: I'm a devout Catholic.
Look, I always think it's exciting, to watch the Conclave and look for the black smoke and the white smoke and just the ceremony of it. And, you know, during these very trying times in our country, we certainly need spiritual leadership, because of some of the things that we're experiencing.
I'm a little concerned about this choice for the LGBTQ+ community. In 2012, he gave an address to bishops, and he lamented, ‘the popular culture fostered and a sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the gospel,’ and that’s a quote. And then he cited the ‘homosexual lifestyle and families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.’
I think that Pope Francis certainly made great changes in terms of embracing the LGBTQ+ community and extending blessings to the community, and I hope that this is -- that this pope doesn't roll back the progress.
[Crosstalk]
NAVARRO: I'm going to give him --
BEHAR: But didn’t the last pope come to that in his time?
NAVARRO: That’s right. I think it’s important that we note that what you're quoting from is from 2012.
HOSITN: Yeah. I said 2012.
NAVARRO: In 2012, but what I'm saying to you in 2012 there were even a lot of American politicians who today are pro-gay marriage and pro-equal rights who were not. So maybe, you know, with the weight of the papacy and the idea that he just said when he went out on the balcony that the church loves everyone and was inclusive in his first message. So, until we see otherwise, I think we need to pray and hope -
HAINES: Yeah.
NAVARRO: - that he follows in Francis' footsteps in being inclusive, forgiving, compassionate, welcoming, and speaking up for the marginalized. Speaking up for the poor, speaking up for the migrants, speaking up for the targeted, speaking up for all those people that today feel alone in that Francis said, you have a mother and a father in the Catholic Church.
He was -- he became a citizen of Peru and there he advocated for the poor. So-so that gives me --
HOSTIN: And migrants as well.
NAVARRO: It's very hard to live in a place like Peru, where there is extreme poverty, be pope of the streets where you're walking among the poor and the needy and I think not developed some great sense of compassion.
Francis put him -- he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms that Francis made when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. Because in addition to LGBTQ, in my view, the Catholic Church needs to give women their rightful plate and some more equality.
[Applause]
HAINES: I'm not a Catholic, I grew up Presbyterian. But I think any person of any faith kind of a person of the cloth is always inspirational and to watch the ceremony has been great, but I also echo some concerns in addition to what Sunny said.
The conclave looked past allegations that he had – This pope had mishandled or failed to act on sexual abuse cases involving priests in both Peru and the United States. And the probably the dirtiest stain on the Catholic Church would be the abuse of young children. So, to know that that could have been looked past is difficult to reconcile for me.
(…)
