Pope Francis' most controversial moments - on LGBTQ+, divorcee stance and slamming pets

Tributes from across the globe have poured in today after it was announced that Pope Francis I had died shortly after to

The Pope became an , not only for his compassion but for his bold statements which were often deemed as controversial, as he steered the Catholic Church through a tumultuous period. Francis was raced to Gemelli Hospital on February 14 . He spent 38 days there, the longest hospital stay of his 12-year papacy. He appeared on Easter Sunday to share a , sitting in a wheelchair as he spoke from the balcony in what would be his last public appearance.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, and said: "At 7.35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church. “He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalised."

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From welcoming divorced couples to embracing sexuality, the. He paved ways for inclusivity and change but also headed up the Catholic Church at a time that saw the clergy rocked by sexual abuse allegations. Below, The has decided to take a look back at some of his most controversial moments following his death at the age of 88.

LGBTQ+ ally - 'who am I to judge?'

Pope Francis' calls for greater acceptance for divorcees and gay people brought him into sharp conflict with some on the more conservative wing of the . In 2013, when he was questioned about the sexual orientation of priests, he said: "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

10 years on from his statement, he stated that homosexuality "isn't a crime", and urgedbishops to allow members of the LGBTQIA+ community into the Church. He later approved blessings for same-sex couples, provided they didn't resemble marriage vows.

However, despite him being an unlikely ally, he previously had to apologise for using a homophobic slur during a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops last year. At the Italian Bishops' Conference, the pope reportedly said gay men should not be allowed to train for the priesthood.

Catholic Church sex abuse scandal

The greatest scandal of his papacy came in 2018, when he discredited Chilean victims of clergy sexual abuse by siding with a bishop whom they accused of complicity in their abuse. Realising his error, he invited them to the Vatican and apologised in person.

He also brought the entire Chilean bishops conference to Rome, where he pressed them to resign. He convened a summit of the Catholic hierarchy in 2019 on abuse and sent a strong signal by defrocking former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a Vatican investigation determined he abused minors as well as adults.

Francis passed church laws abolishing the use of pontifical secrecy and establishing procedures to investigate bishops who abuse or cover up for predator priests. But he was dogged by high-profile cases where he seemed to side with accused clergy.

Covid-19 vaccination support

Like the rest of humanity, Francis was grounded during COVID-19, prevented from traveling, celebrating Mass in public or presiding over audiences. He repeatedly urged the to use the pandemic as a wake-up call showing the need to reset priorities and policies in favor of the most vulnerable.

Francis strongly supported vaccination campaigns and demanded the poor have priority. The Vatican’s doctrine office said it was morally acceptable to be vaccinated, even with shots that used cell lines from aborted foetuses in research and production processes, putting Francis at odds with conservatives who refused the shots on moral grounds.

Advocacy for migrants

Advocating for migrants was one of Francis’ priorities as pope. His first trip outside Rome in 2013 was to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to meet with newly arrived migrants.

He denounced the “globalisation of indifference” shown to would-be refugees. He prayed for dead migrants at the US-Mexico border in 2016 and brought 12 Syrian Muslims to Rome on his plane after visiting a refugee camp in Lesbos, .

His plea for welcome put him at odds with US and European policies. He said in 2016 of then-candidate that anyone building a wall to keep migrants out “is not a Christian.”

Fear of choosing pets over babies and 'breeding like rabbits'

Pope Francis stood strong and upheld the ban of contraception, but had a lot to say about growing the next generation. In 2015, he said don’t have to breed “like rabbits” and urged devotees to practice “responsible parenting" instead.

The church endorsed the Natural Family Planning method, which involves monitoring a woman’s cycle to avoid intercourse when she is ovulating. At the same time, Francis suggested in 2016 that women threatened with the Zika virus — which was causing malformations in thousands of children at the time — could use artificial contraception because “avoiding is not an absolute evil” in light of epidemics.

Then in 2022, he condemned couples who choose pets over babies and suggested it was "selfish". He said Catholics choices to swap out children for “takes away our humanity”. He turned to a general audience at the Vatican and said: “Today … we see a form of selfishness.

"We see that some people do not want to have a child. Sometimes they have one, and that’s it, but they have and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh but it is a reality.”

Urging bishops to welcome divorcees into church

Pope Francis wanted the community to be less judgemental and move towards welcoming "those who cohabit indefinitely" and to the "divorced who have remarried." His progressive stance helped weaken the alienation towards certain groups and demonstrated a more empathetic approach.

"Without excluding anyone, the church promotes the , founded on marriage, contributing everywhere and at all times to make the marital bond stronger, by virtue of that love which is greater than all: charity," Pope Francis said, as noted by El Tiempo. However, some called him a heretic after the opened the door for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to receive Communion.

Washing the feet of two women at a detention centre

Pope Francis washed the feet of two women at a youth detention centre in Rome back in 2013. During the foot-washing ceremony, he included a woman of Muslim faith.

Until that point, the act was only carried out on men. It was the first time that female participation had been allowed. The ceremony is a re-enactment of Jesus washing the feet of the Twelve Apostles. In 2016, the pope also washed the feet of refugees from various religious backgrounds at a migrant centre in a "gesture of humility and service".

In more recent years, the leader had shown further support towards women by calling on members of the International Theological Commission to "demasculinise the Church" in November 2023. He added that "women have a different capacity for theological reflection than we men". However, he still supported a male-only priesthood.

Using science in major teaching about environment

Francis became the first pope to use scientific data in a major teaching document and made care for God’s creation a hallmark of his papacy. In 2015, his environmental manifesto “Praised Be,” urged a cultural revolution to correct what he called the “structurally perverse” global economic system that exploits the poor and turned Earth into “an immense pile of filth.” Many popes before him, though, also called for better care for the environment.