Pope meets with Catholic same-sex attraction ministry Courage International
Pope Leo XIV hosted a private audience on Feb 6 2026 with Courage International representatives, including Bishop Frank Caggiano, Rev. Kyle Schnippel, Rev. Brian Gannon, and Angelo Sabella. The meeting highlighted Courage International’s pastoral work for people with same‑sex attraction who choose chastity, noting its growth to 160 chapters in 15 countries. The audience underscored the Vatican’s support for the apostolate’s mission of accompaniment, prayer, fellowship, and good example. The event was seen as a significant moment for the Catholic Church’s approach to LGBTQ pastoral care and a reaffirmation of the ministry’s peaceful, love‑based mission.
7 months ago
Pope Leo XIV held a private audience on 6 February 2026 with leaders of Courage International, a Catholic apostolate that offers pastoral accompaniment to people who experience same‑sex attraction and choose to live chaste lives. The meeting highlighted the Vatican’s continued engagement with ministries that support LGBTQ Catholics seeking to follow Church teaching on sexuality. 1
The audience was attended by Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who chairs the Courage International Episcopal Board; Rev. Kyle Schnippel, priest of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and chairman of the Courage International Executive Board; Rev. Brian Gannon, the organization’s executive director; and Angelo Sabella, a Courage member of 31 years. 1
Courage International describes itself as an apostolate of the Catholic Church that provides “pastoral accompaniment to people who experience same‑sex attraction who have chosen to live a chaste life.” It was founded in 1980 by Fr. John F. Harvey, OSFS, at the request of Cardinal Terence Cooke. 1
The ministry’s original chapter met in New York City in 1980 and developed the “Five Goals of Courage”: chastity, prayer and dedication, fellowship, support, and good example. Today the organization operates more than 160 chapters across 15 countries. 1
Since its inception, Courage has expanded steadily over 45 years, extending its reach to members worldwide. The February 2026 audience with the Pope was presented as a “historic occasion” that affirms the work of the apostolate and its members’ commitment to “living the truth in love.” 1*
Evaluate Vatican endorsement of Courage International’s chastity‑based pastoral model
The sources available do not establish a formal Vatican endorsement of Courage International as an organization, nor do they document a specific Roman decree approving every feature of its pastoral program. They do, however, provide substantial support for the core principles commonly associated with a chastity-based pastoral model: the universal call to holiness, chastity, prayer, sacramental grace, friendship, personal accompaniment, and fidelity to Catholic teaching on marriage and sexual acts.
The most accurate conclusion is therefore:
The Vatican has clearly endorsed the theological and pastoral principles underlying such a model, but the supplied sources do not prove an official institutional endorsement of Courage International itself.
The Catechism states directly:
“Homosexual persons are called to chastity.”
It presents chastity not merely as abstinence, but as a path involving self-mastery, inner freedom, friendship, prayer, sacramental grace, and gradual growth toward Christian perfection. That framework closely corresponds to a pastoral model centered on helping people live chastely rather than treating sexual activity as morally permissible.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith likewise teaches that persons who experience same-sex attraction are called to follow God’s will and to live a chaste life. It specifically connects this vocation with the Cross of Christ, the virtue of self-control, the Sacrament of Penance, and divine grace.
Pope Benedict XVI also called for the whole Christian community to recover an appreciation of chastity, describing it as an “apprenticeship in self-mastery” and a form of training in human freedom. He insisted that Catholic pastoral work should present sexuality through an “integrated, consistent and uplifting vision,” not simply through isolated prohibitions.
Thus, a ministry that teaches chastity as a positive Christian vocation, supported by prayer, friendship, community, and the sacraments, is strongly consistent with the supplied magisterial sources.
The sources also clearly affirm that sexual intimacy belongs within marriage. The English and Welsh bishops state that sexual intercourse “finds its proper place and meaning only in marriage,” and that this teaching applies equally to homosexual and heterosexual persons.
Archbishop Chaput similarly writes that Catholic belief reserves sexual intimacy to a man and a woman joined in a valid marriage, and that persons experiencing predominant same-sex attraction are called to chastity for the kingdom of God. He emphasizes that they need support, friendship, understanding, and compassionate pastoral care, especially when they struggle or fail.
The 2024 USCCB framework states that same-sex sexual activity and all sexual acts outside marriage are rejected as sinful, while also insisting that persons who experience same-sex attraction must be lovingly accompanied and formed in a manner both relevant to their experience and faithful to Catholic teaching.
Accordingly, the doctrinal foundation of a chastity-based approach is not marginal or optional. It reflects the Church’s settled teaching as represented in these sources.
A distinction must be made between:
The supplied references support the first category and, in general terms, the second. They do not establish the third.
For example, the CDF teaches that pastoral care must prevent people from being led to believe that homosexual activity is morally acceptable. At the same time, it insists that pastoral care must address persons with “special concern,” respect, and attention. The Catechism adds friendship, prayer, and sacramental grace as means of growth. These texts establish criteria for Catholic pastoral ministry; they do not name or juridically approve a particular apostolate.
Therefore, it would be an overstatement to say simply, “The Vatican endorsed Courage International,” unless there is separate documentation—such as a Vatican statement, decree, official audience, or competent ecclesial approval—specifically making that claim.
A chastity-based pastoral model can be evaluated favorably when it possesses the following characteristics.
The Church’s teaching is not that a person’s identity is exhausted by sexual inclination. The English and Welsh bishops emphasize that “there is more to a person than sexual inclination and more to love than sexual desire.” They also affirm the value of chaste friendship.
A sound ministry should therefore present chastity as an integrated form of Christian freedom and love, not as mere repression or punishment. This is consistent with Benedict XVI’s insistence that Catholic sexual teaching must be communicated as a coherent vision of human flourishing.
The Catechism explicitly mentions “the support of disinterested friendship,” meaning friendship that is not possessive or sexually instrumentalized. Archbishop Chaput similarly highlights the need for support, friendship, and understanding.
This is important because a pastoral program that merely tells people what they may not do, without offering belonging, companionship, prayer, and concrete ecclesial support, would not adequately reflect the Church’s pastoral vision.
The CDF connects the chaste life with the Sacrament of Penance and the grace necessary for conversion and faithful discipleship. A ministry is therefore strongest when it directs participants toward Christ, the Church, Scripture, prayer, the Eucharist, and reconciliation—not when it becomes a self-help or behavior-management program detached from the sacramental life.
The Church’s teaching applies to everyone: married and unmarried, heterosexual and homosexual, widowed, divorced, and single. A chastity-based ministry is more credible when it does not single out same-sex attraction as though chastity were demanded only of that group. The 2024 USCCB framework explicitly places same-sex activity alongside sexual activity outside marriage more generally.
The Pontifical Council for the Family requires that persons experiencing same-sex attraction be accepted with “respect, dignity and delicacy,” and that every form of unjust discrimination be avoided.
This is not an optional courtesy. It is a condition of faithful Catholic pastoral care. A ministry would fail ecclesially if its language or practices encouraged contempt, ridicule, coercion, harassment, or social exclusion.
The CDF also distinguishes between inclination and individual acts, stating that the inclination itself is not a sin, while homosexual acts are judged morally unacceptable in its cited teaching. This distinction is pastorally essential: moral responsibility concerns acts and choices, and culpability must be judged prudently rather than presumed automatically.
The Church’s pastoral approach must remain personal and ecclesial. The 2024 USCCB framework says that the Church must offer listening, healing, welcome, and communication of the Gospel to young people, including those who experience same-sex attraction. It also acknowledges that some may feel that the Church is not a place for them because of judgmental or inadequate responses.
A chastity ministry is therefore deficient if it treats participants primarily as problems to be corrected. The aim must be communion with Christ and growth in holiness, with sexuality understood within the whole person’s vocation, dignity, relationships, and life in the Church.
The supplied sources do not justify claiming that every participant can or should expect a change in sexual attraction. The Pontifical Council for the Family says that the psychological genesis of homosexuality remains largely unexplained, while distinguishing attraction from acts.
Consequently, a Catholic chastity-based model should not be confused with a guarantee of orientation change or with coercive “conversion therapy.” The sources support chastity and conversion of life; they do not establish that a particular psychological outcome must occur.
Any Catholic ministry must also be assessed according to standards of safe pastoral practice. Pope Leo XIV’s 2026 message stresses that authentic Christian relationships safeguard the other “without appropriating them,” accompany “without dominating,” and serve “without humiliating.” He calls for listening, transparency, prevention, protection, and care for vulnerable persons.
Applied to a chastity-based ministry, this means:
These requirements do not weaken the chastity-based model. They determine whether it is being practiced in a genuinely Christian way.
Theologically, the model is well supported when it teaches that all persons are called to holiness and chastity, that sexual intimacy belongs within marriage, and that growth occurs through grace, prayer, friendship, self-mastery, and the sacraments.
Pastorally, it is legitimate only when chastity is presented positively and personally, with compassion, respect, realistic accompaniment, and full inclusion in the Church’s life.
Institutionally, the available sources do not prove a direct Vatican endorsement of Courage International as a specific organization or validate every aspect of its program. The evidence supports the Catholic principles that such a ministry may embody, not an unqualified endorsement of all its methods or claims.
The balanced Catholic judgment is therefore: Courage’s chastity-centered pastoral premise is substantially consonant with the cited Church teaching, but the phrase “Vatican endorsement” should be used narrowly and only where specific documentation establishes formal approval.