Pope Francis tells Catholics in a new book that he worries that homosexuality has become so “fashionable,” that it could “influence the life of the church.”

The pontiff’s views reinforced the church’s position that it should carefully vet all applicants to the priesthood and weed out gay people, The Guardian reported.

“The issue of homosexuality is a very serious issue that must be adequately discerned from the beginning with the candidates,” Francis says in his book, The Strength of a Vocation, which was released in Italy on Saturday.

“In our societies it even seems that homosexuality is fashionable and that mentality, in some way, also influences the life of the church,” he says, according to the Guardian.


People had high hopes that Pope Francis would make the church more inclusive. He once said “Who am I to judge?” when asked about allowing gay men to become priests in 2013.

The pontiff has made other pro-LGBTQ statements in the past, including a sweeping apology for wrongs the church has perpetrated against the community.

However, he also has made a number of homophobic and transphobic statements such as calling the rise of transgender rights “ideological colonization.”

The Pope’s most recent view made public on Saturday reinforce the Vatican’s 2016 stance that men who have “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” or “support the so-called ‘gay culture'” cannot be priests.